KHABARTIME BLOG: ‘I didn’t want to be a celebrity’: Helen George!

‘I didn’t want to be a celebrity’: Helen George!

During Helen George time at the Royal Academy, she credits “a brilliant drama teacher, Karen Rabinowitz, for really pushing me”. She adds: “I’d gone to drama school before, but never quite felt like I was an actress – she really pushed me so I felt I could do both musicals and acting. I started off doing musicals and I love them, but I also knew I wanted to do straight theatre and film. I had to work really hard – there were a couple of years when I wouldn’t be seen for those sorts of projects and it took me a long time to wade against the stereotyping of musical theatre actors. It’s a shame, because there’s a lot of talent there. I think that in the last few years, it’s not been getting easier exactly, but there’s been a progression with fantastic casting directors like Andy Pryor who will see people in theatre productions and have the confidence to transfer them to screen.

Here are the Some views of Helen George

What was your first non-theatre job?

I did loads – I was always waitressing and was terrible at it. I also worked in Harrods spraying perfume, and I worked in pubs.

What was your first professional theatre job?

A few of us from the Royal Academy went on tour with Elton John – we were so young and a bit arrogant, so we took it for granted, but we played arenas and the Royal Albert Hall. Then I went into The Woman in White.

What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?

I wish I’d had more fun with my friends in my 20s – I was so worried about not working and was always comparing myself to other people’s careers – I wish someone had told me not to.

Who or what was your biggest influence?

I love being given direction, so every director I’ve ever worked with.

What’s your best advice for auditions?

Do the work and don’t try to wing it. But don’t put too much pressure on yourself, either. I missed out on an awful lot of jobs when I was younger because I was so shy and gave myself a hard time. So be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up. If it goes wrong, it goes wrong – there’ll be another one. Don’t live for each audition, there’ll be 10 more.

If you hadn’t been an actor, what would you have been?

Probably something in fashion or the arts, like working in an art gallery.

Do you have any theatrical superstitions or rituals?

I try not to – I can become OCD about things if I do.