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My mum always said I'd be an entertainer
A rising star from Portsmouth has been called the new Kathy Burke, and it's a comparison she's very happy with.
Once described as 'the best British character actress of her generation' and a 'national treasure', it was Burke's stunning award-winning performance as the battered wife in the film Nil By Mouth opposite Ray Winstone, that encouraged aspiring, young actress Lorraine Stanley to take on her own gritty roles.
'She was an inspiration to me when I saw her in that film,' recalls Lorraine.
Before that, Lorraine who was brought up on a council estate in Somerstown, says she wasn't aware that 'girls like me' could become serious actors.
She says: 'When I first went to Southdowns College for the interview to get a place on the drama course, I was only 16 and very naive. They asked me what I hoped to do at the end and I said I wanted to be a Red Coat at Butlins! That was my ambition because I didn't think girls with my background and my accent would get the chance to become a proper actor.'
But that's precisely what the 32-year-old former St Lukes pupil has achieved, in roles every bit as hard-hitting as those her idol has taken on.
Parts such as her star turn in the surprise 2006 hit, London to Brighton, in which she played a prostitute with a heart of gold.
The film won a clutch of awards and was described as 'a thriller with a twist of social realism, which pays intelligent homage to Mike Hodges and Ken Loach'.
Lorraine's performance was so compelling that she found herself competing against three of the country's top actresses for a major award.
Alongside Dames Helen Mirren and Judi Dench, and Kate Winslett, Lorraine was nominated for British Actress of the Year by the London Film Critics' Circle.
Helen Mirren won, but the prestigious awards ceremony, which was presented by Mariella Frostrup and Paul Gambaccinni at the Dorchester Hotel in London, is an occasion Lorraine says she'll never forget.
'It made my whole year. Judi Dench wasn't there, but I spoke to Helen Mirren and she said she'd seen the film and thought I was great. She might've been blagging I suppose. I can't remember what else she said cos I was starstruck and I'd had a few glasses of Champagne by then.
'I also met Charles Dance and Timothy Spall. I get so nervous at red carpet events. I give it the big "I am" but I'm quite shy really,' she says with a throaty laugh she has in common with her heroine - a trait no doubt attributable to her Olympian smoking habit.
Lorraine spent most of London to Brighton looking horribly disfigured and sporting a painfully swollen face and a black eye.
She laughs louder still at the memory.
'I always play those kind of roles - very working class, rough types: the girl from the estate, the prostitute, the heroin addict - nutty roles! They're great. I can really get my teeth into them.
'I was in The Bill last week and, oh god, I looked horrendous in that!,' she pauses to take another drag of her fag and laughs long and loud again.
'I know it's a cliche - something every actor says, but I really can't watch myself onscreen. I don't like it one bit. I can't bear it! It's not the acting, I think that's fine, it's just what I look like. Sometimes I really don't recognise that person onscreen as me.'
It's something the talented Ms Stanley is going to have to get used to as her career takes off. Her time in the limelight must surely be imminent. She's certainly done plenty of groundwork.
On stage she's worked at prestigious theatre such as the National Theatre and is currently in a production at Shakespeare's Globe.
On screen she's had parts in numerous dramas and soaps including EastEnders, The Bill, Antonia Bird's TV drama Rehab ('I looked really rough in that, too') and Trial and Retribution.
'I'm really proud of appearing in Trial and Retribution. That was a great role. I played a murderess who killed her brother. She was creepy,' she shudders at the memory.
'My next role is a heroin addict and prostitute who has to give her baby up for adoption. It's the lead part in a play called Mine. To prepare for that I'm going to the Priory Clinic to learn about addiction, and I'm going to speak to a woman who has had to give up her baby. I can't imagine what that's like because I've never had kids, let alone had to face that decision. It's on in London for three weeks in October, then it goes on tour which will include Chichester and Southampton.'
No points for spotting the theme emerging here, but Lorraine says she's not worried about being typecast.
'I have played other roles. I think Scout in To Kill A Mocking Bird was the best part I've ever had. I was a ten year old from Alabama and it was playful and fun for me to do. The character was nothing like me or any other characters I'd played before or since. It took me a way from the rough roles and I really enjoyed it.'
The former St Luke's School pupil studied drama at Southdowns College and was a keen member of the Portsmouth Players youth theatre group.
At 19, she was one of a dozen people in the county who won an 18,000 grant from Hampshire County Council to pay the fees for a three-year course at the prestigious Arts Educational School of Drama in Chiswick.
Lorraine says she grew up convinced that one day she'd be an entertainer of some kind. And so did her family, including mum June who runs the cafe at Portsmouth & Southsea train station.
'My mum says she always knew I was going to be an actress because I when used to go to Butlins on the Isle of Wight with my family I'd enter all the talent competitions win them!
'My mum's got posters of me everywhere. Whenever a new customer comes in to the cafe, she'll say: 'Hello, this is Lorraine, my famous actress daughter!'
Lorraine currently has a small role in the film Cass, which is based on notorious former football hooligan Cass Pennant's autobiography.
Says Lorraine: 'It's not a big role for me but it's an excellent film and Cass is a diamond geezer. A really lovely bloke. It was such an honour to meet him and work on a film about his life story.'
Speaking to Lorraine on the day of the premiere in London's Leicester Square, I was surprised to find the actress was not being pampered nor was she choosing a red carpet dress from one of the world's top designers.
'Er, no, I'm not' she laughed. 'If ever I'm asked where my dress is from I alway say Gucci, but really it's more likely to be from Jane Norman (in Debenhams).
She may be more Asda than Armani, Lorraine's happy with that. She says it's her down-to-earth Pompey roots that have helped her land her some plum roles and it means she hasn't had to resort to her 'resting' job of waitressing.
'I haven't had to do that for several months now. I've had some really good acting jobs, and I've got plenty lined up too. Maybe I'm finally going to get somewhere.'
Lorraine Stanley can currently be seen in the film Cass, showing at Vue cinema, Gunwharf Quays. Call 08712 240240.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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