Older actresses can be happy, too
HOW many older actresses are aceing it with incredible screen performances? This year’s Bafta nominees include Joanna Scanlan, 60, up for best actress for her portrayal of a white English Muslim convert in After Love. Olivia Colman, 48, has another Oscar in her sights for playing conflicted mother Leda in The Lost Daughter. And Helen Mirren, 76, is receiving a Lifetime Achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild.
Yet older actresses always seem to be cast as troubled, manipulative, lonely or downtrodden. Of
course, flawed characters are box office. But all the same, I’d love to see an older female play a
central role where she not only gets into all kind of scrapes and has her own conflicts and drama, but is also attractive, clever, confident – and, dare I say it, occasionally happy.