Olivia Colman has praised her co-stars for helping her win a best actress Oscar.
She told how Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz stepped aside from the category for the comedy The Favourite.
Olivia’s performance as eccentric and gluttonous 18th century monarch Queen Anne landed her the gong in 2019.
Emma, 33, and Rachel, 51, both up for the best supporting actress, were pipped to it by Regina King, 50.
Olivia, 47, who went on to play the Queen in The Crown, said she had regarded all three parts in The Favourite as equal and they all deserved a shot at the best actress award.
She said: “I have never said this out loud before but for the Oscars you have to choose what you go up for. I said, ‘I am not doing it and if we can’t do that equally then I am not doing that’.”
But Rachel, 2006 best supporting actress for The Constant Gardener and Emma, 2017 best actress for La La Land, had other ideas. Olivia said: “So they said they wanted to go into supporting to force me to do the other one.”
She said: “That is friends above and beyond, that is amazing. They are incredible, lovely people.”
Olivia was talking on the Plot Twist podcast ahead of her new movie, The Lost Daughter, which came out on Netflix on Friday.
In the psychological drama, she plays Leda Caruso, a professor of Italian literature, originally from Yorkshire, on a holiday on a Greek island and struggling with motherhood.
The movie, which also stars Dakota Johnson and Jessie Buckley, won a four-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival and a best screenplay award for The Dark Knight star Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Olivia told the podcast she was always destined to be an actress but at school was encouraged to become a heavy goods vehicle driver. She said: “It was a computer test at school and you pressed buttons. I was hoping for ‘actor’ and it came up as ‘you will be a HGV driver’.
“I know we need drivers but it is not where my hopes were pinned. I do love driving though. We did a film in Ireland recently and there were lots of cars and stunt drivers and they said, ‘If you are ever stuck you can come and work for us’.
“They were polite and I was thrilled. They said to me ‘well done’ which was really nice as the wheel spins were done by the stunt drivers.
“I did think I would do nursing as my mum was a nurse and she told me it was a wonderful career helping people.
“That was appealing but there was always something at the back of my mind of people who were going to dump normal things and go and audition for things and that was really exciting.
“I did find my tribe, I guess. I hope my job gives people joy and escapism.
“I hope people like it and they need it as I can’t do anything else.”
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School graduate’s breakthrough came in Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show. Her other comedy TV roles include Green Wing, Rev, Beautiful People, That Mitchell and Webb Look and Fleabag.
She said one of her TV heroes is retired newsreader Trevor McDonald, 82.
“I was at the BBC once for an audition and Trevor McDonald walked past and I smiled at him and he went, ‘hello’.”
“He has a real aura and he felt magical at the time. He’s the man you trust from the telly. He’s all knowing.”
