BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ Although she's been co-starring in a hit TV show for six years now, people still don't recognize actress Laura Main on the street. Recognition has been "a long, slow burn," says Main, seated in a noisy coffee bar.
"It's because I was in the nun's wimple for two years, and then the glasses. So it wasn't a case, the show is watched by so many millions, and suddenly I'm recognized. That didn't happen at all. Not at all," she says.
The show is PBS's "Call The Midwife," which will offer a special Christmas episode next Monday. Main plays the Scottish nun who relinquishes her calling when she falls for the stouthearted doctor on the show.
Even after her character and the doctor were married and trying to start a family, the paparazzi were not in hot pursuit, she says. "I would say seriously it's only been in the last six months that I think people recognize me. Because of the nature of the show, and because of the warmth that people have for the show and how they care about all the characters, people are warm and kind and want to tell you how much they like the program. And that's a nice thing to hear," she says, retrieving her coffee from the counter.
Being famous was never one of her goals, says Main in her thick, Scottish burr. "I have to admit I wasn't ever dreaming of something as big as 'Call The Midwife.' I just wanted to act and just wanted to practice it and do it. So doing that mix of things I was doing, that was fine with me."
That "mix of things" was several other jobs that saw her through following drama school in London. She worked in commercials, as a temp for a while, and then was offered a full-time job _ that wasn't acting. "However, they did say, 'You can go off to auditions.' I was on a contract as opposed to doing the temping work. I thought that was fine. But it became apparent that it wasn't quite going to work. It was a bit far away to get to auditions," says Main.
"I said, 'OK I'm going to do this. But I'll only leave for something BIG, maybe it'll be something that'll be shot quite quickly.' But I found myself getting the opportunity to do something like 'State Fair' that was a profit-share show. It really was a great experience, and they were doing it again a year later, and I was doing this other job. And I thought, 'Yeah, I'm going to do this (show).' It wasn't leaving to do the 'big job.' It was leaving to do something small scale, but something that I was proud of and enjoyed doing."
Her full-time job was as a receptionist for designer Jasper Conran. "It was Jasper himself who understood that I'm an actress and about going to auditions," she recalls. "But the logistics of it didn't quite work."
Main grew up in Aberdeen, the youngest of three girls. Her dad, retired now, was a fish merchant, her mother a teacher and then a housewife. Her parents supported her proclivity for performing ever since she was 10 years old. She credits her dance teacher, Karen Berry, for igniting the passion in her.
"My dancing teacher _ no, I wasn't a dancer _ basically showed me the world of acting and doing a bit of everything _ singing, acting and a little bit of dancing. But it's totally because of her. And I was about 10 or 11, and I'd gone to these summer workshops doing dancing, drama, did amateur shows and special shows that would come to town and she would suggest auditioning. It was about meeting an inspirational person like that, and I suppose I found I liked it."
She says she enjoys the physicality of performing. "I was always a bit sporty growing up, and it's a physical thing being on stage for many hours and doing the whole thing. It's just good fun."
Main, 36, is a "bit sporty" in another way. She recently ran the marathon. "People say it's going to be an amazing day. And you can't quite imagine how it could be an amazing day, but it really was," she says, sipping her coffee from a tall paper cup.
"I did reasonably well with my training. You have to fit it in with your acting, but it is a big commitment. But I was running for a charity that I'm ambassador for now. It's for vulnerable children in Lesotho which is that land-locked country in the middle of South Africa," she says.
"People support you and spur you on, and I just had this most wonderful day. I absolutely loved it ... Somebody said to me, 'If you've done that, you can do anything.' And, in a way, you can now say to yourself: 'That was a scary moment.' Because even now when I go for the occasional job, I'm thinking, 'How did I run the marathon? What happened?' That is probably something that will stay with me forever. It was an achievement."
'BLUE PLANET' SPINS AGAIN
The new edition of the wonderful series "Planet Earth" arrives on Jan. 20 all across cable TV. This segment, "Planet Earth: Blue Planet II," features the ever-present David Attenborough narrating with music by Hans Zimmer. The show will premiere on AMC Networks _ simulcast on BBC AMERICA, AMC, IFC, WE tv and SundanceTV.( Subsequent episodes will appear Saturday nights on BBC America. Zimmer, who has composed for projects like "The Lion King," "Gladiator" and "Thelma & Louise," says he loves the freedom of his work . "In my world ... I can be whatever I want to be at any point in time I just have to pick the right subject matter," he says.
"And I'm fairly autonomous. The cameraman doesn't want me to tell him how to move his camera and he's not going to tell me how to write my notes. I do like the idea of freedom. We're not limited to popular style. Our whole thing is we get to invent popular styles we don't have to follow trends."
MCCARTHY CO-HOSTS NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOW
It's a long title, but a good way to end the year. "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2018" ushers in the new year on ABC. Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy will co-host the event again, and the show will feature multi-platinum star Ciara.
McCarthy doesn't have a problem getting up in front of people and hosting a show like the New Year's event. But she admits, "I still don't feel confident with image, if you can believe it. I still have a hard time going, 'God, I can't fit into sample sizes!' They send you these sizes that are zero. Oh, my God. They force you to have an eating disorder, which I don't and never have. But it can really weigh on a girl."
DETECTIVE BACK FOR SEASON 11
Crime stopper William Murdoch will be back in his Canadian digs on Christmas Day when Acorn TV begins streaming Season 11 of the popular detective show. The series stars Yannick Bisson as the intrepid Murdoch and following Season 10, he finds himself behind bars and accused of a crime he didn't commit. Bisson says he started acting when he was still a kid in his native Canada, but didn't find work and school a compatible mix.
"I kept going back to high school and kept getting movies and I'd have to travel to wherever _ Europe or the West Coast, and that sort of thing. And the teachers just wouldn't work with you, so that was a bit of a problem. Then the producers weren't hiring set teachers, so it was a different time. So by the time I was a junior in high school I was making more than my father had ever made and was working a lot, so I just basically dropped out."
