Chloe Pirrie

Professions :

I grew up in Edinburgh, but my dad's from Glasgow, and my mum's from Chingford in Essex, and I spent time in Ireland, too, so I was always somebody who absorbed accents. I would come back from visits, very much to the annoyance of friends and family, with an accent based on where I'd been.

friends dad family time

It was a sort of weird, troubled road into acting because I had been a bit naughty in school until I did my Highers, and then I was like, 'Oh, I think I'm going to apply myself and surprise everyone.'

road myself naughty school

Nothing changes overnight unless you win an Oscar. You move up a little bit, but you are always a little fish - just in a slightly bigger pond.

fish nothing win you

'Wuthering Heights' is portrayed as a great romantic novel, and when I read it again, I thought, 'How is this romantic? All these people are horrible to each other!'

thought great romantic people

I applied to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and didn't get in the first year, so I worked at Costa and the Dean Gallery Cafe then applied again and got in the next year when I was 18. I was so excited.

cafe music drama school

I like people who do what they do incredibly well and are active in their non-acting life, too.

well like life people

I subconsciously mimic whomever I'm talking to, so I've been mistaken for a Canadian, a South American, and somebody from the West Country.

somebody american talking country

I've always waitressed between roles. When 'Black Mirror' was on, I was still flipping burgers. Customers would recognise me while asking for extra ketchup, which was pretty embarrassing.

mirror me always black

I went to anything that was on at the Lyceum in Edinburgh. I was quite geeky. There was a production of 'Look Back in Anger' with David Tennant and Kelly Reilly in it, and it blew me away. I still think about it and look back on it as the moment where I decided, 'I want to do that.'

look me moment anger

If you are ever on stage, and it feels as though the audience is not laughing at the right points or are not quite as engaged as you'd hope, you have to remember there is always somebody who might be falling in love with this world and having an epiphany. I was that person.

you hope love world

London can be quite lonely and a hard place to live, but I do love it. It is where I forged my way to live. It is where I call home.

place home love way

I got offered 'Black Mirror,' and my boyfriend and I were so excited. I used to read Charlie Brooker's column growing up.

mirror excited growing-up black

I definitely have had a couple of years where I've been working constantly, but it never goes away, that worry that you'll never work again. It's a funny job. It never gets easier. Rejection never gets easier.

job you work funny

When I got 'Youth,' I also got a small role in 'Star Wars.' I didn't know what to do. I decided to choose based on the character.

small know youth character

It's interesting trying to make something as truthful as possible, but playing someone who is still alive is quite a weird thing.

weird someone alive trying

There might be the odd person in my family who was an artist down the line, but no one in my immediate family is an actor of any kind.

person down family artist

I was inspired to become an actor from theater I'd seen, so I assumed I'd do a lot of theater. But when I left Guidhall, the first thing I did was a short film - I played the main character. And I loved it. I love working on camera. I love the smallness of it and the detail and the routine of it.

camera loved love character

People look at your CV and assume you jump from job to job to job. They don't see the months in between where you're waiting for the phone to ring, or you're waiting to hear about things.

look you waiting people

It's hard to imagine what the Bronte sisters' lives would've been like had they been men. Different things would've been expected of them, and maybe they wouldn't have ended up writing because they would've been packed off to do something else.

something hard writing men

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