Olivia Colman: “I’ll never forget struggling to pay my rent”

She went from penniless cleaner to TV star in hits such as Peep Show and Broadchurch – now Olivia Colman, 44, is in the global spotlight and up for an Oscar thanks to her role in The Favourite. Closer looks at the down-toearth actress’ secret to success a

LIFE IS SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS

Olivia’s said she’d always dreamed of being an actress and moved to London to pursue her goal, taking jobs as a cleaner and a secretary to get by. Despite her struggles, Olivia was determined to succeed. Speaking of the early days, she said, “When we [she and her nowhusband Ed Sinclair] first moved to London from Bristol, I had £1 left in my overdraft – and cash machines don’t dispense pounds. Ed didn’t have any money, either, so we managed to find enough pennies from the sofa to buy one potato to share.” And she still takes the same inclusive approach to their joint income now, saying, “It’s swings and roundabouts with us. Every time I get paid, I put half in his bank account. He does the same for me.”

TRY NOT TO SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

After worrying about her appearance too much as a teenager, Olivia says she’s learned not to beat herself up in life. She said, “It would be nice to go back in my life and tell my younger self, ‘You’ll be OK. And you will be loved. Don’t make any rash decisions in this moment. You can make the world work and have a brilliant time. And if you’re not skinny, f*** it.’ I’m basically a pretty upbeat person.”

GO AFTER WHAT YOU WANT

As well as her drive to become an actress, Olivia set her sights on another goal – her husband Ed, whom she first spotted while the pair were studying at Cambridge University. She said, “I immediately thought that’s the person I’m going to marry. I absolutely threw myself in – I didn’t play it cool. And at first he just could not see it. He can be very slow on the uptake. I had to work on him… We married seven years later [in 2001] and we’ve been together 19 years. He’s the best person in the world.”

KEEP FAMILY CLOSE

While Olivia lives in Camberwell, south London, with Ed, a writer and actor, and their three children, Hall, 12, Finn, ten, and a threeyear-old daughter (whose name they’ve never revealed), she spends a lot of time away filming. But she admits her family will always be her priority and that she makes it a rule never to be apart from them for too long. She said, “If I was away for a long time, we’d all have to go. I don’t like being away from them. It’s as simple as that.” She adds that when she had children, it “took away my skin completely”. She said, “Making [ITV drama Broadchurch], I couldn’t stop crying... I’d have a scene and they’d say, ‘You’re not crying in this scene’ and I’d think, ‘Yeah right, good luck with that.”

REMEMBER THE STORM WILL PASS

Olivia says that during some of the lowest points in her life – including a bout of depression and struggling with an eating disorder as a teenager – she’s always reminded herself that the dark times are a phase that will end. She said, “I had black clouds, and I still do. But now I know when I’m in a fug and that it’ll pass. I had postnatal depression after my first baby, but I knew I loved my baby – I’ve always been able to see what I have in my life.”

STAY GROUNDED

Despite winning a Golden Globe and earning an Oscar nomination for her performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite, Olivia insists she likes to keep her expectations low in life. She said, “If I’m really honest, I’ve always dreamed of holding an Oscar... but I’m really trying to sort of keep everything in check; keep calm. I don’t want to get excited. I don’t want to face that disappointment. I just want to be on an even keel. I’m a mum, a wife, I’m a mate. I’m other things. You can see how people get sort of swept into it, and I want to stay sane.”

APPRECIATE YOUR LUCK

She’s come a long way from the early days when she and scriptwriter Ed were so broke they lived in a friend’s attic in Essex, and Olivia says it’s important to reflect on her journey and be appreciative of her “luck”. She said, “I can’t forget what it was like to struggle to pay the rent, and sometimes to have to borrow money to get on the bus, and it’s important that I don’t. I’ve got friends – wonderful actors, beautiful to watch – who haven’t been as lucky as me and it makes no sense.”