‘I soared to Hollywood fame – but the BBC would only give me 2 lines’
Eddie Marsan is one of Britain’s most celebrated actors (Picture: BBC/CBS Studios/Lilja Jons) He’s shared the screen with Robert Downey Jr, acted alongside Christian Bale and been directed by Martin Scorsese – but for some reason, Eddie Marsan continues to be criminally underrated. What is often mentioned as a reason is his adaptability. One week, he can go from being a slow, moustached Kentucky sheriff in The Bombing of Pan Am 103, to then embodying Amy Winehouse’s father in Back to Black. Whatever it is, it’s baffling. Truly. Especially in a year where a veteran like Stephen Graham has exploded on the global stage with the success of Adolescence. But while the King and Conqueror actor sits there across from me on a swank velvet sofa in an equally swank London hotel, I can say with confidence that I don’t think it bothers him one bit. ‘I left school at 15 with no qualifications. I was an apprentice printer before I became an actor,’ Eddie, who grew up in Bethnal Green, London, tells Metro. ‘The industry wanted me to be a caricatured cockney, and I knew that was not only a disservice to me – it was a disservice to the people I grew up with.
He’s shared the screen with Robert Downey Jr, acted alongside Christian Bale and been directed by Martin Scorsese – but for some reason, Eddie Marsan continues to be criminally underrated.
What is often mentioned as a reason is his adaptability. One week, he can go from being a slow, moustached Kentucky sheriff in The Bombing of Pan Am 103, to then embodying Amy Winehouse’s father in Back to Black.
Whatever it is, it’s baffling. Truly. Especially in a year where a veteran like Stephen Graham has exploded on the global stage with the success of Adolescence.
But while the King and Conqueror actor sits there across from me on a swank velvet sofa in an equally swank London hotel, I can say with confidence that I don’t think it bothers him one bit.
‘I left school at 15 with no qualifications. I was an apprentice printer before I became an actor,’ Eddie, who grew up in Bethnal Green, London, tells Metro.
‘The industry wanted me to be a caricatured cockney, and I knew that was not only a disservice to me – it was a disservice to the people I grew up with.
