Schmoozing like a star at 12, Brit who’s wowed LA
JUST over a year ago British actress Millie Bobby Brown returned to the UK from Hollywood with her family broke after she had failed to make her mark on Tinseltown.
But last night, she was back for the Golden Globe Awards – only 12 years old but feted for her powerful performance in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things.
Displaying a confidence far beyond her years, she was the toast of parties in Los Angeles before the awards, being photographed with heartthrob actor Ryan Gosling and British actressmodel Lily Collins.
Wearing a sophisticated black and white dress at the Bafta Tea Party in Beverly Hills – a highlight of the Hollywood awards season – Millie struck a series of poses and blew extravagant air kisses to photographers.
The young actress was also due to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on US TV yesterday.
It was a far cry from her return to the UK in the summer of 2015, when the family had to stay with an aunt because Millie’s parents had run out of money, having sold everything to move to the US to help her follow her dreams of stardom.
Now it looks like they are coming true. She played the orphan Eleven in Stranger Things – nominated in the best TV drama series category at the Golden Globes – and is due to return in the second season this year, according to industry reports.
While the former Bournemouth schoolgirl was excited that the scifi thriller was in the running at last night’s awards, it faced tough competition from The Crown, Game of Thrones, This Is Us and Westworld.
The Crown’s British star Claire Foy was also in Los Angeles, nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama series for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II.
Her performance in the tenpart Netflix series has been widely hailed, but there was one part of being the monarch that was beyond her acting skills – getting the corgis on set to obey her.
Fortunately, she found the perfect treat to convince the dogs to behave themselves – cheese.
‘I have some on me at all times when corgis are on set,’ said Miss Foy, 32. ‘They’re not particularly good pets. They’re quite aggressive but they like cheese.’ While it helps her play the Queen, it comes with an unusual side effect. ‘I smell of cheese quite a lot,’ the actress said. ‘Cheddar actually.’
Sipping a cuppa at the Bafta Tea Party, she admitted she was not a natural dog lover.
‘The real Queen is very good with them, I think, because her mother had them and so she knows how to be with them,’ she said of the monarch’s beloved corgis.
Miss Foy will abdicate the royal role, covering the early years of the Queen’s reign, when she completes the second season this summer. Director Stephen Daldry said an older actress would portray Elizabeth II in seasons three and four. A third actress will be cast for the fifth and sixth series, which will complete the run of 60 episodes.
Miss Foy was out and about on Saturday night with American actor John Lithgow, nominated for his highly praised study of the Queen’s first prime minister Sir Winston Churchill in the series.
Other Britons in Hollywood for the awards last night included Naomie Harris, Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films, nominated for a best support
A confidence far beyond her years Her dreams are coming true
ing actress honour for her role in the film Moonlight, in which she plays a crackaddicted single mother.
Miss Harris’s own mother, screenwriter and energy healer Carmen Harris, was her ‘plus one’ at the event.
Lily Collins, who stars in Warren Beatty’s film Rules Don’t Apply, was also attending with her mother, Jill Tavelman, a former wife of rocker Phil Collins. Thandie Newton, nominated for Westworld, was also there, as was Night Manager star Tom Hiddleston.
Nicole Kidman flew in from Nashville with husband Keith Urban. The actress is one of the stars of the tearjerker film Lion, in which she portrays a woman who adopts an Indian boy, played by Dev Patel as an adult. Both were up for Golden Globes.
Security was tight at the awards – given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – with marksmen watching from rooftops surrounding the venue, the Beverly Hilton hotel.