She’s got all the trappings of superstardom: killer looks, a clutch of awards and £4.5 million in the bank. But mention ‘Jodie Comer’ to your friends and you’re bound to get a few blank stares. The British actress, best known for playing super-stylish assassin Villanelle in the BBC series Killing Eve, has yet to become a household name. And, like many in her growing legion of fans, I want to know why.
This month I saw Jodie, 29, in Prima Facie, her debut West End play. It’s a masterpiece of a monologue in which she confronts gruelling issues including sexual assault, misogyny and bias in the criminal justice system – and she was nothing short of astonishing. When the curtain fell, I could barely speak. The woman next to me was so stunned she stayed in her seat until everyone else in the auditorium had filed out. A couple at the back were left in tears.
Despite seeing the show as part of National Theatre Live, sitting in front of a cinema screen rather than a stage, I could have sworn its star was standing right in front of me. Playing a fiery, ambitious young barrister called Tessa, Jodie spoke at whirlwind speed, pacing and gesticulating wildly, sweating and shouting and dipping in and out of one character, then another, so convincingly that I could see and hear them, even though she was the only one in the cast.
The play has quietly become a cultural sensation, taking £1.4 million in its first 24 hours. Forget Thor or the latest Top Gun: this one-woman act is the highest-grossing cinema event since the pandemic, with Jodie credited by one newspaper as ‘single-handedly saving the UK box office’.
This one-woman act is the highest-grossing cinema event since the pandemic, with Jodie credited by one newspaper as ‘single-handedly saving the UK box office’
So who is she – and why isn’t her name already on everyone’s lips? Jodie comes from Liverpool, where she attended St Julie’s Catholic High School and apparently impressed teachers and students alike with her ‘prodigious talent and diligent work ethic’. When I interviewed her dance teacher, Jo Walls, back in 2018, she couldn’t praise her enough, telling me: ‘She was a really big part of life at the school. She was academic but also very creative.’
Weekend drama school – where Jodie became known for her ability to slip and out of accents – led to her first monologue on stage aged just 11. In 2006, she won the Liverpool Drama Festival, then got her first paid job (in a Radio 4 play) and secured an acting agent.
Footage emerged last week of her TV debut, in a 2008 ITV series called The Royal Today, in which 14-year-old Jodie played a teenage tearaway. It wasn’t an Oscar-winning performance, but already it was clear that she had star quality.
Next came bit-parts in Holby City, Waterloo Road and Silent Witness – and in 2016, the young actress played an abduction victim in BBC thriller Thirteen, a role which earned her a Bafta nomination. She was named a ‘star of tomorrow’ at the London Film Festival in 2016 and 2017, scored the lead part in Killing Eve in 2018 – and the rest really should be history.
So why is it that, after all of that, Jodie Comer is still dubbed an ‘up-and-coming’ star? There’s her age, sure, but she’s achieved more under 30 than most of us can aspire to in a lifetime. And she’s no shrinking violet, appearing on the cover of Vogue not once but twice, winning a Bafta and an Emmy, and documenting her life on social media for her 2.6 million followers to observe in minute detail.
The problem, it seems, is that despite all this, Jodie doesn’t really feel like a star – or act like one. She still lives with her parents – Donna, a train company employee, and James, a football physio – in Childwall, the working-class suburb of Liverpool where she grew up. She’s spotted at the local pub with her parents in tow more often than she’s papped at glitzy events. She raves on Instagram about her mum’s Sunday roast, her younger brother Charlie and her love of dogs, sleep and cake.
‘There’s no place I would rather be than at home in my pyjamas with my brother, watching the telly,’ she said in a recent interview. ‘That is my happy space.’ She also has a level-headed take on fame, saying: ‘A lot of things have happened by chance. I’m a big believer in fate, and it’s working out well so far.’
Insiders on her film and TV projects (she recently starred in action films Free Guy, alongside Ryan Reynolds, and The Last Duel, with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) reveal that she does most of her own stunts, no matter how gory, and had intensive lessons in French and Italian for Killing Eve, so popular it’s now run for four series. She even has a say in Villanelle’s coveted wardrobe, which ranges from drool-worthy designer dresses to wacky costumes, psychedelic trouser suits and bejewelled coats – some of which she gets to keep.
Hard-working, self-deprecating and fiercely private about her home life (she’s dating an American lacrosse player, but the pair have only been pictured together once – surely a showbusiness record), she turns the stereotype of the actress-of-the-moment on its head.
But could all that be about to change – at long last? Last week, Hollywood Insider ran a two-page love letter to the British actress, suggesting she has finally caught the eye of the industry’s big-wigs. Her upcoming projects are far from low-key, with starring roles in an HBO series, an environmental thriller and, if reports are to be believed, a docu-drama based on the Wagatha Christie trial, in which she’s tipped to play Coleen Rooney.
Jodie Comer may not have taken naturally to fame, but it’s certainly taken to her. Call me a fangirl, but I reckon she deserves every plaudit, starring role and social media hanger-on she gets. I doubt any of it will change her. And this time next year, maybe even next month or next week, everybody will know her name. Just remember you heard it here first.
Comments