Marcella actress Anna Friel: Work means there's not much room for a man

Friel also opened up about the pressure on ageing women in the acting industry
Candid: Anna Friel says she remains close to former partners Rhys Ifans and David Thewlis
Dave Benett
Robert Dex @RobDexES31 March 2016
The Weekender

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Anna Friel has spoken about the pressures on women in the acting industry, warning: “If it’s all about your looks, once you start to age your career’s over.”

The actress, 39, is soon to be seen playing the title character in ITV crime drama Marcella. She said: “If there were two people in a room, of equal talent, up for a part, it would be a lie to say they wouldn’t think of the one who looks after themselves above the one that doesn’t.

“There is a certain pressure in the industry but I’ve tried to get away from that by playing as many different characters as I possibly can so I am not boxed in. If it’s all about your looks, once you start to age your career’s over. I would hate it to be dictated to me in that way.”

The actress, who has a daughter Gracie with David Thewlis and has also dated Rhys Ifans, is single and said work meant “there was not much room for a man”. She told The Times: “It’s through choice, not something that’s been put upon me, and I don’t think there should be a stigma to that. We’re in a day and age where we can make choices.

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“There’s a lot of women that are in marriages and are really unhappy and not in the circumstances to get out of it. I’m lucky. I’m financially independent and stable. I can make those choices.”

The actress, who shot to fame in 1994 after her character in Brookside, Beth, famously shared a lesbian kiss with Nicola Stephenson’s Margaret, said she remained close to both Thewlis, 53, and Ifans, 48, and did not rule out rekindling her last relationship with an unnamed man.

She said: “I’m about to turn 40 and, okay, well, ‘What are you going to do? What’s next?’. I am not scared of being alone. I think it helps for me personally because I’ve never had a man pay a bill for me.”

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