Olivia Colman
Olivia Colman
Sarah Caroline Olivia Colman, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress who first came to prominence for her supporting role as Sophie Chapman in the Channel 4 comedy series Peep Show. Her other TV comedy roles include Green Wing, Beautiful People, Rev.and Twenty Twelve. She also played various roles in That Mitchell and Webb Look, alongside her Peep Show co-stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth30 January 1974
girl classic harder
I feel fortunate that I'm not a beauty. I'm not a classic beauty. I feel it is harder for girls who are like that. There are fewer parts.
drama school lady-macbeth
I always assumed I would leave drama school and do 'Lady Macbeth' and all sorts of serious things. It just didn't happen.
patient mum turns
I always assumed I'd be a terribly patient mum but it turns out I'm not!
bullying style comedy
I don't like the bullying, do-one-over style of comedy. It's so cheap.
jobs auditions lucky
I love my job and I know I am very lucky but still, if you audition and you don't get it, it still affects you.
school play firsts
The first time I did a school play was the first time I felt I was good at anything at all. I just loved it.
mean shoes clouds
I am a bit sickie happy. I am prone to black clouds too, but... I am embarrassed about them. It's like: 'My diamond shoes are too tight. My money clip doesn't fit all my fifties.' I mean - really. Shut up.
children dark offering
I had a lovely, feral, free childhood - out and then come back when you're hungry or it gets too dark. I feel slightly cruel that I'm not offering my children the same.
beautiful sexy husband
I'm not a pin-up, thankfully. I'm not suggesting I feel unconfident. I am beautiful to my husband. I am beautiful to my friends. I feel sexy and all those things with the people I love.
reading people choices
If a script is good, you are 10 steps into the part just reading it. But my choices are not all down to my taste. It is about people you have worked with before.
children nice struggle
If I didn't have children I might be more of a lush than I am. I like booze. I struggle with smoking. And I'm a big swearer. I'm trying to rein it in but I do think it's a nice seasoning of language.
real thinking trying
If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don't know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far.
girl school laughing
In fact I was slightly badly behaved at school and got in trouble. I would get a bee in my bonnet about something I thought wasn't right, and I would ape about too, to make everybody laugh. That was my way through my girls' school, because I wasn't very academic.
mad lovely sound
This may sound mad, but you sort of assume that no one's going to watch what you do. You go on set, have a lovely time, and then you forget anyone's going to see it. So it's always a bit of a shock to be recognized. I get terribly embarrassed.