Brighton Rock remake actress Andrea Riseborough - Profile
From Made in Dagenham to starring opposite Guy Pearce
Name
Andrea Riseborough
Born
27 October 1981, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Background
She was Sally Hawkins’ mate in Happy-Go-Lucky, Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley, English Civil War-era crumpet in The Devil’s Whore and busty Brenda in Made in Dagenham. All significant roles, but can you say what Riseborough looks like? No? Well, her latest performance won’t help much: in the remake of Brighton Rock she’s utterly unrecognisable (in comparison to Maggie or Brenda, but also to her real self) as Rose, the shy, awkward and naïve but ultimately fiercely passionate waitress who falls for Sam Riley’s psychotic gangster killer, Pinkie Brown. This is a measure of Riseborough’s talent, and it’s significant that Rose got her nominated for both Best Actress and Most Promising Newcomer at last year’s British Independent Film Awards. That latter nomination’s also a bit daft, given Riseborough, who trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, was winning prizes for her stage performances for Dog Days, Miss Julie and Measure for Measure – long before she started being noticed for her film work. Still, there’ll be another chance to spot Riseborough in the near future when she’ll be Wallace Simpson in Madonna’s directorial debut, W.E.
What she’s up to now?
Preparing to star opposite Guy Pearce in Shadow Dancer, James Man on Wire Marsh’s drama about an IRA terrorist who becomes an MI5 informer.
On Rose’s obsession with murderer Pinkie
‘Rose had a very hard home life and Pinkie is a catalyst to a better life. I don’t think that it was hard for her to leave home. In order to play that, I remembered what it was like to fall in love for the first time. I have very strong memories of that. So much of Rose’s motivation is about the reckless abandon and bravery of first falling in love. It’s like being awakened. And Rose isn’t even ripe. She isn’t even a sexual creature yet.’
Interesting fact
One of Riseborough’s first big screen roles was playing an unnamed ‘period film lover’ in ‘luvvy’ drama Venus.