Actor Nicola Coughlan said she has spoken out about the Israel-Hamas conflict because her late father’s work as a United Nations peacekeeper meant the matter hit close to home. The Irish actor told Time magazine she was warned against being vocal on the war on the grounds that “this could really limit you”. She said silence did not feel like an option, pointing to her father’s legacy.
“My dad passed away a couple of years ago, and I don’t really speak about him very much, because it’s very personal,” she said. Coughlan’s family lived in Jerusalem before she was born.
“That was literally what he was doing – trying to broker peace in that area,” she added.
Coughlan has highlighted fundraising efforts for the people of Gaza on her Instagram page and has worn an Artists4Ceasefire pin in high-profile settings.
She was speaking to Time to mark being named as a Next Generation Leader, an honour which sees her feature on the magazine’s cover.
Coughlan has also said she finds being called “brave” for taking on her role as Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton “insane and so insulting”.
Coughlan told Time she did not like receiving questions about her weight in the wake of taking the role saying she was “seen as a plus-size heroine” despite being “a few sizes below the average size of a woman in the UK”.
The actor said she knew that some people had meant their words as a compliment, but said “I don’t take it as nice”.
She told Time: “Don’t call me brave. I have a cracking pair of boobs. There’s nothing brave about that, that’s actually just me showing them off.
“I’m a few sizes below the average size of a woman in the UK, and I’m seen as a plus-size heroine.
“I worked my arse off for that show. I barely saw my family and friends, and people were just going, ‘but your body’.
“But I don’t take it as nice. Making it about how I look is reductive and boring.
“What if I was suddenly going to play a ballerina and lose a sh*t tonne of weight, are you not going to like me any more? That’s insane and so insulting.”
Coughlan also spoke about having to “keep going” in order to succeed as an actor in her 30s.
“I just feel really lucky to be working, because all of my 20s, I wasn’t.
“There’s no making it, you just have to keep going and can’t rest on your laurels.”
Coughlan made her name as Clare Devlin in the Channel-4 sitcom Derry Girls, written by Lisa McGee.
She also featured in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film, in the BBC comedy drama Dodger as Queen Victoria, and will appear in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special Joy To The World. – Additional reporting: PA
