Little Britain in Hollywood...
Forget stars and stripes, it’s the Union Jack that should perhaps be flying over the famous Hollywood hills today.
In the same way that Kate Winslet took the Americans by storm in luring Leonardo’s attention with her ample cleavage and promises of eternal love (before that damn iceberg got in the way), today’s rat pack of celebrity Brit actors is expanding and a new generation of famous British faces are becoming on-screen icons across the pond.
Sarah Barnard takes a look at this growing band of exports.
Rachel Weisz
Oozing natural Hollywood style, Weisz kick-started her big screen takeover when she starred in The Mummy in 1999. Playing the quintessential English damsel in distress, Weisz stole the hearts of critics and fans worldwide and it wasn’t long before the offers came flooding in for more high-profile roles.
It was Weisz’s turn in The Constant Gardner that put the seal on her Hollywood credentials when she walked away with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2006.
Anna Friel
Manchester lass Anna Friel was probably concerned her one true claim to fame stateside would be a lesbian kiss on a Brit soap way back in the 1990s.
But a recent spell of fortune has hit the Friel camp in the form of Pushing Daisies, a hit American TV series which began in 2007. Playing the childhood sweetheart of the leading man, who is brought back to life by him after she is murdered, Friel may hope for third time lucky next year, after being nominated for a Best Actress at the Golden Globes two years on the trot.
Hugh Laurie
I was secretly hoping to keep the lovely Hugh Laurie on this side of the pond after forming a childhood crush on him as the delightfully stupid but yummy Prince Regent in Blackadder the Third. Still, it was inevitable that the thought of sun, sand and huge payslips were a draw in taking Laurie over to the US.
After a spell of hit and miss performances in films such as Stuart Little, it is Laurie’s most recent outing as Doctor Gregory House in the smash hit series, House that has put his name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame waiting list. Laurie’s name is now synonymous with the back-biting doctor and after a Golden Globe win for Best Actor in 2004, the series’ popularity remains on the up.
Thandie Newton
Arriving in the UK from Zambia when she was just four, Newton’s destiny was to make it big. Scoring a first film role in Flirting (1991), alongside Nicole Kidman, was enough to set her along a path of fame and fortune. By the time the Millennium arrived, she had taken the lead female role in the blockbuster Mission Impossible II.
It was starring as Noah Wyle’s love interest in ER for two years (sadly Clooney had moved on to pastures new..) that drummed up more interest in her. A turn in the Oscar-rammed Crash in 2006 led to a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA and no doubt a barrage of calls from several Hollywood agents.
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