Leanne Best

Your roles across Fortitude, Ripper Street and Home Fires are all very different. Which of those characters feels closest to you?

I suppose they are all a little like me in some way. Celia (Fortitude) is a strong family woman who puts her relationships at the centre of her life; Teresa (Home Fires) is a working-class girl from Liverpool who’s open to adventure and change; and Jane (Ripper Street) is a card-carrying feminist! I think all characters stem from you; you are the bare bones of the person you are being asked to play. You are your raw materials at work. That being said, I’m often surprised. There have been plenty of occasions when I’ve played a character who I thought was nothing like me, and the opposite turns out to be true, and vice versa.

“You are the bare bones of the person you are being asked to play.”

Why does storytelling matter to you?

If you could live a thousand other lives, why wouldn’t you? Just take a peek.

You’ve said acting wasn’t always the plan — what first pulled you towards it?

I never really wanted to be an actress, actually. I did some performing at college, but it was never a passion. I was working in a cafe when I auditioned for a summer school at LIPA. I was a bit of a daydreamer, saving to travel but with no real plans. My mum cut an advert out of the local paper, and I went along to a summer school open call, as going meant I’d have 6 weeks working on Arthur Miller and Shakespeare.

“I was a bit of a daydreamer, saving to travel but with no real plans.”

When did it shift from something you were trying to something you knew you wanted to pursue?

Sounds daft to say now, but the acting wasn’t really the most interesting part of it for me at the time. I fell in love with it pretty quickly. I played Abigail in The Crucible and was awed by the experience. At the end of the course, the teacher suggested I should go to drama school. They then gave me an audition for their acting course, and I got a place. That was that, really. Ignorance is bliss, and I had no idea what I was doing or what I was letting myself in for!

What keeps you motivated in your work now?

I have to pay my rent principally! I love what I do, but I’m probably not the best person to ask for career advice. I work really hard, and I care about it with everything I have, but I have to be honest and say I didn’t plan any of it. There have been a few occasions when I should have gone with my head over my heart, but I went with the heart… And those were the times when something really special happened. That’s about the best I’ve got in my locker, kids, when it comes to planning my next move!

“Ignorance is bliss.”

For anyone trying to follow a similar path, what would you say to them?

Again, I’m probably not the best one to give career advice! We are all just doing our best and trying to figure it out. Remember why you love it, do the best you can with what you’ve got and go for it. Be open, diligent, and committed. Use your whole heart. Don’t eat the yellow snow. READ!

Leanne Best is a British actress known for her work across television and theatre, including Line of Duty, Tin Star, Home Fires, A Woman of Substance and G’wed, with performances that move between strength, vulnerability and instinct.

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Interview by Carl Marsh