“My mum was a nurse, and her passion was geriatric care. I used to love listening to the old people’s stories in her nursing home and picturing myself in their place. They’d say, ‘I went to school in a horse and cart,’ and I’d just think ‘Wow!’ I’d picture myself in their place – acting was a natural progression.”
― Olivia Colman
“In fact I was slightly badly behaved at school and got in trouble. I would get a bee in my bonnet about something I thought wasn’t right, and I would ape about too, to make everybody laugh. That was my way through my girls’ school, because I wasn’t very academic.”
― Olivia Colman
“Proper love should be utterly supportive and comfortable, and it feels like a raincoat or a jacket potato.”
― Olivia Colman
“If I didn’t have children I might be more of a lush than I am. I like booze. I struggle with smoking. And I’m a big swearer. I’m trying to rein it in but I do think it’s a nice seasoning of language.”
― Olivia Colman
“I suppose I have played a lot of put-upon women, but it’s never bothered me. They’ve never been weak – they’ve always got steel in them.”
― Olivia Colman
“I love my job and I know I am very lucky but still, if you audition and you don’t get it, it still affects you.”
― Olivia Colman
“I am just an actor – all I do is I memorise someone else’s words and tart around.”
― Olivia Colman
“As a child, I thought, ‘Once I am a grown-up, there will be no more fear, no more worries,’ and it turns out that’s not true.”
― Olivia Colman
“I was never one of those surly teenagers who doesn’t smile. My lovely godfather said it was always lovely to see me because I was the only teenager who smiled. And I was so in awe of him, I thought it was one of the best things anyone had ever said to me. So it made me want to live up to what he said.”
― Olivia Colman
“I think a good dollop of sadness is quite a useful thing in comedy sometimes. I think if everyone’s happy all the time, it’s a bit dull. It’s like salt and caramel – you wouldn’t imagine they would go well together, but they do.”
― Olivia Colman
“My daughter’s still so tiny at the moment; she’s just a sweet little meaty thing. But of course, you always think about what you want for them, don’t you, and like any parent I want my children to be happy more than anything.”
― Olivia Colman
“I am a bit sickie happy. I am prone to black clouds too, but… I am embarrassed about them. It’s like: ‘My diamond shoes are too tight. My money clip doesn’t fit all my fifties.’ I mean – really. Shut up.”
― Olivia Colman
“It gets slightly daunting if you’re watching the telly and everybody’s gorgeous. It’s just so rubbish. And I’m grateful that it’s not so much anymore – it’s great to see.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’ve always wanted to play a Marvel baddie. I’m not sure I fit the mold, though. Like a powerful, extraordinary woman. Somebody with superpowers would be really fun, but I’m not sure how many middle-aged women they have in Marvel.”
― Olivia Colman
“If the script’s good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don’t learn things for auditions, because I feel like it’s just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don’t know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far.”
― Olivia Colman
“I don’t like the bullying, do-one-over style of comedy. It’s so cheap.”
― Olivia Colman
“Acting is playing, and it is like being a big kid. Yeah, it’s great. You get paid.”
― Olivia Colman
“After those first two BAFTAs, I didn’t really get offered anything, which makes you think, ‘Oh, no!’ And, after I finished the second series of ‘Broadchurch,’ nothing came up for six months, which really is a long time, and I got a bit panicky.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’ve always done drama, but I suppose ‘Tyrannosaur’ was a bit of a watershed moment for me. It was like when Kathy Burke did ‘Nil By Mouth’ – suddenly, people were saying, ‘Oh, she can do that, too.’”
― Olivia Colman
“You can over-think things. If the script’s good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it and do it honestly. I also don’t learn things for auditions, because I feel like it’s just a test of memorising rather than being real.”
― Olivia Colman
“I want everyone to know what they deserve in relationships: that they can demand equality and kindness. Because everyone will have a relationship at some point in their life. It’s what we all do, every day, and we need to know how to do it.”
― Olivia Colman
“I find Shakespeare terrifying. When Simon Russell Beale does a speech, I understand every word of it, but if I did the same speech, people would be going, ‘Huh? What?’”
― Olivia Colman
“I had a lovely, feral, free childhood – out and then come back when you’re hungry or it gets too dark. I feel slightly cruel that I’m not offering my children the same.”
― Olivia Colman
“Everything with me is pretty close to the surface, but having kids has completely ruined my emotional equilibrium.”
― Olivia Colman
“You see thousands of films you forget the minute you come out of the cinema, don’t you? Because they don’t mean anything. It’s the tough ones like ‘Breaking the Waves’ and ‘Nil By Mouth’ that stay with you, that you never forget. I’d like to leave a few of those behind if possible.”
― Olivia Colman
“If a script is good, you are 10 steps into the part just reading it. But my choices are not all down to my taste. It is about people you have worked with before.”
― Olivia Colman
“I feel fortunate that I’m not a beauty. I’m not a classic beauty. I feel it is harder for girls who are like that. There are fewer parts.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’m not a pin-up, thankfully. I’m not suggesting I feel unconfident. I am beautiful to my husband. I am beautiful to my friends. I feel sexy and all those things with the people I love.”
― Olivia Colman
“The first time I did a school play was the first time I felt I was good at anything at all. I just loved it.”
― Olivia Colman
“I always assumed I would leave drama school and do ‘Lady Macbeth’ and all sorts of serious things. It just didn’t happen.”
― Olivia Colman
“I always assumed I’d be a terribly patient mum but it turns out I’m not!”
― Olivia Colman
“This may sound mad, but you sort of assume that no one’s going to watch what you do. You go on set, have a lovely time, and then you forget anyone’s going to see it. So it’s always a bit of a shock to be recognized. I get terribly embarrassed.”
― Olivia Colman
“In general, I’m rubbish in heels. I love them, and I own a lot because it’s like being in a sweet shop: they’re pretty. But I’m not good in them. I don’t walk nicely in heels.”
― Olivia Colman
“I can’t bear kissing scenes.”
― Olivia Colman
“Actually, lots of women, when they’re pregnant, feel like steel. They feel incredible.”
― Olivia Colman
“I want to be helpful to the charities I support. I think you can dilute it, the more you do. You have to be a bit strong about what you do… otherwise, you risk spreading yourself a bit thin, and you can be less useful.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’m always keen to have more training as a charity patron.”
― Olivia Colman
“I grew up in north Norfolk, which certainly used to have an enormous sense of community. There are more and more second homes there now, so I’m not sure how that has damaged it. But where I live in South London, there is a beautiful community; it’s the friendliest place I have ever lived, which comes as a surprise to non-Londoners.”
― Olivia Colman
“I do sometimes wonder if people think, ‘Oh we’ll have her because she cries well.’ The odd thing is I don’t really know where it comes from. If the script is good, I find I can usually cry without too much trouble – in fact, the hard thing is trying to get me to stop. But I’m not really a crier in real life. I’m not a dramatic person, you see.”
― Olivia Colman
“I was always pretty ambitious, although it probably helps that I can’t do anything else – apart from cleaning lavatories. But I remember my mum once said, ‘I suppose you’ll give it a year and see if you can make it as an actress?’ And I said, ‘No Mum, I think I’ll give it 10.’”
― Olivia Colman
“I can see why people keep having babies. We were looking at a school for my youngest this morning, and there were all these little boys and girls. So sweet. And then the teenagers walk past, and, my God, they’re enormous, and I bet they don’t kiss their mummies. I’m just going to force my children to remain lovely.”
― Olivia Colman
“I remember doing one of those computer careers tests. It told me I’d make an ideal HGV lorry driver because I’ve got 100 per cent spatial awareness. I’d be able to back them into tight parking spots.”
― Olivia Colman
“I did a forward roll for the kids the other day, thinking it’d be a breeze like it was when I was six, and I had to lie flat for about 20 minutes afterwards – ‘Leave mummy alone; she’s feeling a bit dizzy.’”
― Olivia Colman
“If something touches me, I cry. That’s it. I’m a bit raw, a bit rubbish, really. Often, a director will say to me, ‘I don’t think this is a scene where your character cries.’ And all I can say is, good luck with that!”
― Olivia Colman
“I don’t think you can cry if the script is rubbish. I have to feel it; it’s as simple as that. It’s just like if you’re watching something moving, and you feel yourself welling up. It’s the same thing. You’re just being carried along with the story. There’s nothing magical about it. I think I’m in touch with my emotions, and I can’t help it.”
― Olivia Colman
“I think I remember being held by my mum as a baby.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’ve been with my husband and friends for so long, I’ve forgotten what is unappealing to new people.”
― Olivia Colman
“I spent years commuting into London when I was working as a temp, and I hated the monotony of it.”
― Olivia Colman
“I used to want to be in ‘Downton’ because I had never been in a period drama, but then I did ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’ and had to wear one of those frocks and… I didn’t feel very comfortable.”
― Olivia Colman
“I eat a bit too much; my teeth aren’t perfect; I’ve got eye bags. I look like a normal 39-year-old woman – but in England, no one minds that.”
― Olivia Colman
“When you’ve got children, it’s easy to do that thing of keeping a tally of who woke up earliest and whose turn it is to put them to bed. But I think the important thing is to appreciate and love each other and to show that appreciation.”
― Olivia Colman
“I think each person you play has a little bit of you in it – you can’t really help that.”
― Olivia Colman
“I don’t have a process; I just feel it. My book on acting would be very short.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’m really enjoying being able to do these unhinged comedies and emotional dramas alike. I’m having a lovely time. After shooting a role that requires months of crying, it’s quite nice to be able to play something very different.”
― Olivia Colman
“I am a perfectly normal woman. If what we do is storytelling and represent people that we see all day and every day, well, we do not see supermodels all day and every day.”
― Olivia Colman
“I have done Botox, and I loved it.”
― Olivia Colman
“I was rubbish at school.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’d feel bad pretending my life was anything other than pretty good, so I do the role as well as I can and then I go home, have a cup of tea, see my family and friends, and appreciate what I’ve got.”
― Olivia Colman
“My older brother, who was in the Army, now owns his own building company. My half-sister was a nurse and is now a psychotherapist.”
― Olivia Colman
“I’ve been working a long time; it was a slow burn. But I’m grateful it’s been like that.”
― Olivia Colman
“I was nervous about meeting Charlotte Rampling, as she’s a proper legend, but she is just so sweet.”
― Olivia Colman
“Everybody laughs all the time, and some of the worst things that happen make you laugh ’cause it’s a defense isn’t it, I suppose.”
― Olivia Colman
“I started off in comedy, but that’s just where I got my work. I’ve always been an actor.”
― Olivia Colman
“I open the doors for everybody all the time.”
― Olivia Colman
“For some reason, people imagine that dramatic things happen to people who don’t look beautiful.”
― Olivia Colman
“I do go into things thinking, ‘Right. I’m going to enjoy this.’”
― Olivia Colman
“If people still trust me with a funny line, then that is fine. If that is what gets me work.”
― Olivia Colman
“Dementia is such a terrifying thing for all of us, and we are particularly bad at coping with old people in this country.”
― Olivia Colman
“There was nothing about ‘The Killing’ that patronized its audience, and it was quite slow and detailed, all of the things which, for a long time, people had been nervous of making.”
― Olivia Colman
“To play something which is a big spectrum is so much more fun, so much more of a challenge.”
― Olivia Colman
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