Inside bitter row over Brit star Andrea Riseborough’s ‘unfair’ Oscar nomination & the A-listers accused of foul play
WITH her latest film taking just £22,000 at the box office, it was a shock when British actress Andrea Riseborough got nominated for an Oscar earlier this week.
And no one was more astounded than the 41-year-old star of gritty drama To Leslie herself.
No sooner had Andrea started to celebrate her success, however, an almighty row about “privilege” kicked off.
Accusations flew that it was only thanks to a last-minute campaign by a host of influential and famous friends — including Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet — that she was in the running for the Best Actress statuette.
Social media was raging that black actresses Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Dead-wyler (Till) had not made the cut.
And questions were asked why white stars had not held special screenings for those actresses, like they had done for Andrea in a bid to get her turn in To Leslie over the line.
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The furore is in danger of overshadowing what should be a celebration of the previously overlooked actress from Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, who has undoubtedly worked hard for a chance at Oscars success.
From her comic role in last year’s Matilda The Musical, to playing a young Margaret Thatcher in 2008’s The Long Walk To Finchley, Andrea has won plaudits whatever she has been in.
In the highly charged To Leslie, she plays an alcoholic mum in Texas who blows all her lottery winnings on booze.
And it was a role that left her emotionally drained.
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‘There was talk whether my body was right size’
She revealed: “There was one moment where I just had a total sort of internal meltdown.
"We were in the motel and I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m saying’.
“Then I had a cup of tea and I was fine. Normally tea sorts me out.”
Made on a small budget in just 19 days during Covid restrictions, To Leslie garnered little attention when it was given a limited cinema release in the US in October last year.
In the UK, it went straight to streaming sites
But then some of the people behind the film began inviting stars to see it and asking them to post their reactions on social media.
Charlize and Gwyneth hosted screenings, while Kate and Demi Moore praised To Leslie at other ones.
Oscar-winner Kate described Andrea’s acting as “one of the greatest performances I have ever seen in my life” and fellow Best Actress winner Helen Hunt urged Academy Award voters not to cast their votes until they had seen it.
Certainly, Andrea’s portrayal of self-destructive Leslie is an explosive one that is difficult to shake off.
But normally an actor or actress needs to have been nominated for other awards, such as the Golden Globes or a Bafta, to have a shot at the Oscars.
This word of celebrity mouth changed that.
Andrea said: “It was so hard to believe it might ever happen because we really hadn’t been in the running for anything else.”
This year’s Best Actress nominations are more diverse than the all-white Best Actor line-up, thanks to the inclusion of Cuban Ana de Armas and the Malaysian-born Michelle Yeoh.
But Andrea has still been on the receiving end of complaints about a shortage of black representation at the awards.
The criticism is hard on Andrea, who made her way into Hollywood without any connections.
Her car-dealer dad George and secretary mum Isabel were “working-class Thatcherites” who put in enough hours to fund a private education for Andrea and her sister Laura.
She started acting aged nine at the People’s Theatre in Newcastle and her writing talents were considered good enough for either Oxford or Cambridge University.
But at the age of 17 Andrea decided to drop out of education before complet-ing her A levels because she could not stand school any more.
Instead, she spent the next three years doing various jobs, including working in a Chinese restaurant and making greetings cards.
It was while shredding crispy duck that she decided to take a proper shot at acting.
She successfully applied to the celebrated Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she found herself in the same classes as future film stars Ben Whishaw, Gemma Arterton and Tom Hiddleston.
After graduating in 2005, Andrea first appeared on stage before securing roles in hit 2010 movies Never Let Me Go and Made In Dagenham.
The following year, Madonna chose her for the role of King Edward VIII’s lover Mrs Simpson in her film W.E.
And two years later she was taking on an action role alongside Tom Cruise in Oblivion.
But that first taste of big-budget adrenalin was a “bad experience”.
She said: “There was a lot of talk about whether my body was the right size or not — too big or too small, not muscly or long enough.
“I can almost laugh at things like that now, but at the time it was very, very lonely.”
Over the next few years she appeared in the Oscar-winning Birdman and in Nocturnal Animals, Battle Of The Sexes and The Death Of Stalin, all of which were up for awards.
Andrea left Britain to set up home with her then boyfriend Joe Appel, an artist, in Los Angeles.
She stood out in a city known for its car-driving because unlike other movie stars Andrea took the bus.
A decision, she said, that other people thought was “crackers”.
These days she lives in the US with French-Lebanese actor Karim Saleh, who she met while making the movie Luxor three years ago.
Although Andrea has undressed in front of the camera, she has turned down many parts if they just required her to look “hot”.
The outspoken performer has campaigned for equal pay and against predators such as Harvey Weinstein.
She has also talked about mental health issues, saying: “I have had depression all my life.”
That was what attracted her to her role in 2016 Channel 4 drama National Treasure, where she played Dee, the daughter of Robbie Coltrane’s once-successful comedian accused of historic rapes.
‘Nana started work at 13 years old’
Andrea said: “It felt like I could be of use in telling that story, especially for people who’ve been through a similar thing.
“Dee’s addiction storyline was really interesting, but also difficult for me.”
In the past year, Andrea has made five movies, including the star-studded Amsterdam, all of which are very different.
She said: “Before this I made a movie called Please Baby Please. We were on two months of night shoots.
“It’s like an LGBTQ+ musical with no songs, written in a beat poetry style, with Demi Moore.”
Having fractured both her legs while rehearsing a stunt for the TV crime drama series ZeroZeroZero in 2019, she attempted to work through the pain.
Andrea said: “In true British style, I walked around on them for two days, saying, ‘No, no, I’m fine’.”
But an X-ray revealed two fractured tibia and she was forced to rest up.
That level of dedication makes Andrea one of the hardest-working actresses around.
And she thinks she got that drive from her grandmother.
She said: “Nana, who pretty much raised me and my sister, got up at 5am and went to bed at 11pm.
“She started work at 13 years old, pushing a bread cart up a really steep hill, and worked as a cleaner until late into her eighties.
“I cannot remember her sitting down — to the point where we were once having Christmas dinner and she was ironing.
“She’d say, ‘Well, it needed to be done’.”
Oscar nominations always divide opinions and that is part of what will make the show exciting to watch when it is broadcast in the early hours of Monday, March 13, in the UK.
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But anyone considering dismissing Andrea’s chances really should watch To Leslie first.
It might just change their minds.
