I know I am the Queen to 200m people but no one recognises me in real life The Crown’s Claire Foy on her hit Netflix role up for night of glory
went, ‘this is something very, very special regardless of whether anyone likes it or not’. “Because you’re so used to being in things nobody watches, or nobody cares about, or everyone thinks is rubbish and everyone’s got an opinion and blah, blah, blah’. And so it felt like, in a weird way, it felt like it was just for me.” Claire’s fears were unfounded as the show became a massive success. Netflix, along with Left Bank Pictures, spared no expense in making the first series over a year.
It has since won a Golden Globe and been nominated for four BAFTAs – while Claire was voted outstanding actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in LA.
And the most uncomfortable on-set experience for Claire turned out not to be baby related at all.
She broke an elbow in a tumble at a friend’s wedding – then had to film scenes where the Queen mourns her father King George VI.
Looking back on her early days, Stockport-born Claire recalls suffering stage fright as a young actress. She overcame it and shot to fame with the BBC’s Dickensian drama Little Dorrit in 2008.
Claire said: “It was a real learning curve for me. I am quite expressive, loud and big and she was very contained and tiny and meek.”
She has finished work on the second series of The Crown, which airs at Christmas and will be her last.
And she added: “It’s wonderful to be part of something people have enjoyed. It’s very weird to suddenly be in a position where people think that you’re worth their attention. Even if at all ends from there, it is all really lovely.”
In the Best Actor in a Limited Series category, three Brit stars are nominated – Cumberbatch for Sherlock, Ewan McGregor, for Fargo, and Riz Ahmed for The Night Of.
They are up against Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro, Geoffrey Rush and John Turturro.
Matthew Rhys, for The Americans, and Anthony Hopkins, for Westworld, are both up for Best Leading Actor competing against Sterling K Brown, Bob Odenkirk, Liev Schreiber and Milo Ventimiglia.
Meanwhile British actress Thandie Newton was nominated for Supporting Actress for her role in HBO’s Westworld, alongside Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale), Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) and Chrissy Metz (This Is Us).