Being an actor is inherently embarrassing. You have to embrace it.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗
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When were you most embarrassed?Originally asked
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Being an actor is inherently embarrassing. You have to embrace it.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗
The very first day that I was filming Top Gear, for which I was so unqualified because I’d only ever driven a Fiat Uno. I got into a DB7 Vantage Volante outside the Aston Martin factory, put my foot on the accelerator and bunny-hopped across the gravel because I’d forgotten to take the handbrake off.
Appearing on a Paris catwalk in a beard.
Rapping the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme on national television.
I have a deep-rooted fear of being in trouble. I once tried to sneak into the back of a photography exhibition with my husband when one of our kids was in a pushchair. We’d arrived late and he suggested we go in through the gift shop and see the last room. As we poked our heads round the door, the security guard noticed us. I shouted, “That man’s trying to get in!”, then ran away.
Probably watching some poor abandoned cat or dog being nursed back to life by a stranger on YouTube.
Not being flexible enough to dance freely.
A business-class flight. Pure indulgence.
Like everything is in high definition, and life is on your side.
In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”
Anyone whose party I said I’d go to and didn’t turn up. I can get quite socially anxious at times.
Fay Ripley, Gregory Porter, Toby Stephens, Nigel Havers, David Ajala, Jon Snow
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