Why actress Andrea Riseborough is Hollywood's best-kept secret
By LINA DAS
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Andrea Riseborough has quietly become one of Britain’s hottest exports, starring alongside the likes of Tom Cruise, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy – but still likes to catch the bus. Lina Das meets a very down-to-earth A-lister
Actress Andrea Riseborough. Dress, Talbot Runhof
Andrea Riseborough has been hailed as the ‘next big thing’ for so many years now, it’s a surprise to discover that this young, ‘upcoming’ actress is actually 31 years old. She has played everyone from a young Margaret Thatcher (in the BBC’s fictionalised account of the former PM’s rise to power, The Long Walk to Finchley) to Wallis Simpson (in Madonna’s biopic of the Duchess of Windsor, W.E.), taking in glamorous 1960s machinists, put-upon housewives and IRA informants along the way (Made in Dagenham, Brighton Rock, Shadow Dancer).
Considering her impressive body of work, some actresses might be slightly miffed at the tag, ‘but actually I think it’s lovely for people to say I’m the next big thing,’ says Andrea. ‘Let’s face it, it’s definitely better than them saying I’m yesterday’s news.’
'I think playing different characters has afforded me an anonymity that many actors
don't have'
don't have'
Andrea may not yet be a household name like her contemporaries Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley (with whom she starred in the 2010 film Never Let Me Go), but a darling of the industry she undoubtedly is. Agents fell over themselves in the scramble to sign her, and in the past few months alone she has added to her extensive list of accolades by winning the Best Actress gongs at both the British Independent Film Awards (where, ironically, she beat Meryl Streep for her portrayal of Thatcher in The Iron Lady) and the London Evening Standard British Film Awards for her role as an IRA operative in Shadow Dancer.
Moreover, as an indication of her burgeoning star power, later this year she’ll appear alongside Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman in the £92 million sci-fi thriller Oblivion. ‘I think playing lots of different characters has afforded me an anonymity that lots of actors don’t have,’ says Andrea. ‘It means I can quite happily get the bus or do whatever I want to do.’
The comment is telling, not only because hardly anyone in image-conscious Los Angeles admits to riding the bus, but also because few actresses who have completed work on a Tom Cruise blockbuster would be seen dead on one. ‘I like public transport because it’s convenient, and I also get to interact with people who I might not see every day and get to really observe them, rather than whizzing past in a car.’
Andrea as a young Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley
And as Wallis Simpson with James D'Arcy in Madonna's W.E.
She once remarked that as a child she used to like watching strangers – a factor which surely helped with her later transition into acting. ‘Maybe it’s genetic because my sister Laura is similar – we must have been the most extraordinarily creepy kids, sitting there staring at people! But don’t misunderstand me,’ she adds quickly, ‘we are both reasonably well-adjusted.’
And grounded, too, by the sound of it. For a Geordie lass with Hollywood at her feet, her own remain planted firmly on the ground. It’s a lack of vanity, both professional and physical, that enables Andrea to disappear entirely within her characters and, indeed, it often takes a while to register her from one role to the next.
Few who’d seen her strangely sexy portrayal of a young Mrs Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley would have subsequently placed her as the mousy, downtrodden wife in the 2010 remake of Brighton Rock, and her face, with its pale skin and limpid blue eyes, is often likened to a canvas on to which the histories of her characters are painted.
Andrea in Shadow Dancer
‘But there’s no point in being a canvas if you remain blank,’ she says. ‘All I want to do is explore people from all kinds of different backgrounds and situations. I’m not interested in playing the same character over and over again.’
She’s also unafraid of taking on less glamorous roles, as is proven in her latest film Welcome to the Punch. James McAvoy stars as a young detective, Max, while Andrea plays his investigative partner Sarah – helping him trail his professional nemesis (Mark Strong), who comes out of hiding when his son becomes involved in a heist gone wrong.
It’s a dark, moody, testosterone-soaked film, with Andrea, devoid of make-up and brandishing a perfect Cockney accent, playing Max’s less experienced but empathetic colleague. Her performance does much to humanise the film, ‘and [Sarah’s] a strong woman who has an interesting mentoring relationship with James’s character,’ says Andrea.
‘She’s a bit messy too, always writing things on her hand, which becomes significant later on, though I won’t give it away.
‘I went from being up to my armpits in the IRA for Shadow Dancer to filming Welcome to the Punch, which was pretty dark too, so that was fun!’ she laughs. ‘But I really wanted to take on the role because of the actors – James and Mark and Daniel Mays [Andrea’s Made in Dagenham co-star]. And I wanted to make a film with the director Eran Creevy [who worked on Layer Cake with Daniel Craig]. He was tireless and funny and always bouncing around, even though the film’s subject matter wasn’t exactly bouncy.
'It was quite a male set, but it’s not really an extraordinary thing because as [an actress] you spend your time with lots of men and that hasn’t really changed since Shakespearean times. It’s the grim reality – but it’s not so grim because I like men and it was an interesting film to make.’
Andrea once remarked that it was Shakespeare, or ‘my friend William’ as she put it, who inspired her to become an actress, and though she can occasionally come across in interviews as somewhat earnest, in person she’s exceedingly warm and friendly.
We meet in a café near her home in LA’s artsy Los Feliz neighbourhood – or rather one of her temporary homes, given that work has taken her everywhere recently including Louisiana, Vancouver and South Africa. ‘But our house is in Idaho, just outside Boise,’ says Andrea. ‘It’s breathtakingly beautiful there – so natural and fresh and extraordinary.’
Andrea in the upcoming blockbuster Oblivion
Andrea lives with her boyfriend, artist and Idaho native Joe Appel, whom she met four years ago at the premiere of a Woody Allen film in LA. ‘As much as I’d like to be in Europe more, I found myself an American, and an American who needs a lot of space, too,’ she laughs.
‘He makes big arm gestures and is quite loud – in the best possible way – and he has a really lovely heart. He’s wonderful,’ she says softly. ‘As an actor, you can live anywhere and that’s why I’m here in America.’
When I remark how touching it is for an actress to move to the States for love rather than work, she shrugs. ‘When I came out here originally, I was making the decision as to which agent to go with and then I started getting work,’ she says.
‘But at the same time I met Joe and then had to make three or four movies back in the UK [while he was in the US], which was hard. Eventually, you need to follow your heart, because what’s the point if you can’t share things with somebody?’
That the couple managed to get together at all is something of an achievement. After that initial meeting at the Woody Allen premiere, they had ‘talked for 36 hours’, only for Andrea to promptly lose her phone and, with it, his number.
The next day, she joined Facebook in the hope of tracking him down and typed in the words ‘Joe’, ‘snowboarding’ (one of his interests) and ‘Ohio’ (‘which was completely wrong because he’s from Idaho’), which got her nowhere. Luckily, her phone eventually turned up and a romantic near-miss was averted. So is Andrea just as proactive in other areas of life, too? ‘Oh yes, and unashamedly so!’ she exclaims.
Growing up in Whitley Bay, the eldest of two daughters (her younger sister Laura is also an actress), Andrea was a promising student, but surprised everyone by dropping out of school halfway through her A-levels, even though she was seemingly Oxford-bound.
With James McAvoy in new release Welcome to the Punch
‘At that point in my life, it was very obvious that I needed to leave,’ she says, ‘but that’s not to say that it wasn’t a big deal. Truly, I’ve not yet talked to my parents about it and I’d love to do so now because they must have been apprehensive that it wasn’t a conventional path I was taking. But I think they also trusted that I knew what I had to do. I was just compelled to leave, so I did…with abandon!’
'I'm well aware that some of the things I've done aren't always easy to watch'
Without any clear career plan, she moved to Newcastle, ploughing through a variety of jobs including dance choreography and working in a Chinese restaurant (‘those years gave me such diverse experiences that were really valuable to me’) before realising that her heart lay in acting.
She had starred in several school plays, ‘although I was a very shy child,’ she says, ‘so for me, it wasn’t about being seen or noticed – I just enjoyed performing and having that rapport with the audience.’
By 20, she had won a place at Rada, and, after graduating in 2005, has worked pretty much nonstop. In 2006 she won the Ian Charleson Award (which recognises exceptional classical stage work from actors under 30) for her performances in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions of Measure for Measure and Miss Julie.
Andrea with boyfriend Joe at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards, where she was named Best Actress
She earned plaudits for her subsequent TV work, including her gutsy English Civil War heroine in Channel 4’s The Devil’s Whore, as well as The Long Walk to Finchley.
Although her parents (father George, a car dealer, and mother Isabel, a secretary) were initially, she says, ‘working-class Thatcherites, they’ve since swung in the opposite direction. But they were interested and excited for me to play Margaret Thatcher both from a political standpoint and artistically too.’
One of the few critics perhaps was the former PM’s daughter Carol, whom Andrea happened to catch on TV. ‘I recognised a shot from the film and Carol Thatcher was there being interviewed by someone and saying what a pile of rubbish she thought it was. But that was totally understandable as it’s her mother,’ says Andrea.
‘Even though it was a merry romp through a reality that never was, it must be frustrating when it’s talking about someone so close to home. Making the film, I didn’t change my opinion about Margaret Thatcher politically, but in terms of her struggle, there were definitely things to admire about her.’
Even in W.E. – which received largely unfavourable reviews – Andrea’s performance as the American divorcée for whom King Edward VIII abdicates the throne was singled out for particular praise. ‘You can imagine how often I’ve been asked what Madonna is like,’ she smiles, ‘and all I can say is that it was a fantastic experience working with her. I tend to have very few preconceptions about anyone in the public eye, but she was extraordinary – so well-prepared and passionate about the project.’
ANDREA'S A-LIST
- BEST MOVIE This year I was transported by Beasts of the Southern Wild.
- FAVOURITE BOOK Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States has really inspired me. I’m an alien here, so reading it has been very enlightening.
- WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LISTENING TO? Gwilym Gold, a UK musician who’s created a new way of listening to music. His album’s called Tender Metal, and with each song it never sounds the same twice. I’ve also been listening to Woody Guthrie.
- MAKE-UP MUSTS You’re asking the wrong person, but I did put sunscreen on today.
- FAVOURITE JEWELLERY I like rings, and the one I’m wearing today is made by a friend who lives out here called Chandra Lawrence.
- MOST LIKE TO BE STUCK IN AN ELEVATOR WITH…Anaïs Nin. If she were around today she’d be utterly fascinating to talk to.
Neither Wallis Simpson nor Margaret Thatcher are characters exactly renowned for their warmth (while promoting W.E., Andrea happened to meet Meryl Streep, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and jokes: ‘There are only a few people in the world who have played her – one day we’ll all get together, have a party and exorcise her!’), but one of Andrea’s most remarked-upon qualities as an actress has been her ability to bring empathy to characters who might not instantly elicit it.
Shadow Dancer, starring Clive Owen, is a case in point, for although the subject matter is at times difficult to stomach – Andrea plays an IRA terrorist-turned-informant in 90s Belfast – her portrayal of the central character Colette McVeigh is never anything less than mesmerising.
‘I’m well aware that some of the things I’ve done aren’t always easy to watch,’ she says, ‘and Shadow Dancer is like having a one-and-a-half-hour anxiety attack, so I can only commend people for watching it.’
Though her career shows no sign of faltering, it comes as no surprise to hear that Andrea has already taken matters even further into her own hands by setting up a production company and is due to start making her first film back home in Newcastle. ‘The company’s called Mother Sucker and you can publish the name because it’s completely clean!’ she laughs.
‘The name does make me smile, but it also has meaning behind it. I took so much from my mother in every way – emotionally, physically and mentally – that I feel that the power that’s given me will drive me through this process.’
There’s no doubt that Andrea’s something of an unusual soul, possessing an endearing kind of other-worldliness. Apart from her brief foray into the world of Facebook, she’s not one for social media, ‘because I’m a person who feels commitment deeply so if someone sends me an email, I have to respond almost immediately. I wouldn’t really be good on the whole social media thing.’
It has also been written that she and Joe don’t even own a TV set. ‘We do – we just don’t have TV channels,’ she says. ‘We stream things like news channels and movies on to it, and my dad sent over DVDs of Sherlockwith Benedict Cumberbatch, which I loved.’
Our time up, Andrea, all hugs and smiles, heads off to her next meeting, no doubt taking the bus. Hopefully her fellow passengers will be paying attention to the quiet, watchful woman in their midst. It’s not every day, after all, that you get to ride alongside Hollywood’s next big thing.
Welcome to the Punch will be in cinemas on 15 March
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