Oscar-nominated actor Andrea Riseborough has opened up about the physical toll acting can take, revealing she has suffered “pains in places you don’t usually have pains” after immersing herself in roles.
The 44-year-old star has starred in many critically-acclaimed films and television series over the years, earning a TV Bafta nomination for her portrayal of a young Margaret Thatcher in the one-off drama The Long Walk to Finchley in 2008, and receiving her Academy Award nod for the 2022 indie film To Leslie.
In a new interview with The Times, Riseborough - who we’re about to see opposite Stephen Graham in the black comedy thriller Good Boy - explained: “Imagining being in somebody else’s experience is a very odd thing to do. You start having pains in places you don’t normally have pains.”
“There’ve been a couple of characters where I’ve got a wrinkle that I didn’t have because of the facial expression that they make,” she continued.
In 2012, Riseborough took the lead in the Madonna-directed WE, playing Wallis Simpson, the divorcée King Edward VIII chose over the throne.
The King’s relationship with the twice-divorced American socialite was deemed unacceptable by the British government and the Church of England, and the monarch abdicated to marry her.
While playing Simpson, Riseborough said she held herself in a manner that caused “huge amounts of pelvic tension”. “It took months after that to start being able to relax again,” she said.
Riseborough has previously opened up about the mental impact of her chameleonic acting style, telling The Independent: “Psychologically, what I do is no picnic. Or, if it is, it’s one where they’re serving prickly pears with the skin still on.”
Her comments echo recent remarks from Jessie Buckley, the favourite to win Best Actress at this month’s Oscars for her standout performance in Chloe Zhao’s drama Hamnet.
In one particularly emotional scene, Buckley - playing William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes Hathaway - lets out a guttural, grief-stricken scream.
“I have no idea where that came from and I don’t really want to know,” Buckley told USA Today.
Director Zhao added: “That is bravery. I wasn’t like, ‘I have an idea of what this scream might look like.’ She was like, ‘Destroy my body, break my vocal cords, my body is ready to hold your grief’.”
Kate Winslet - who directed Riseborough in last year’s Goodbye June - has also shared similar sentiments, admitting in January that “she can make herself ill because she has zero awareness of just how deeply she can go into a role”.
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