It's a common belief that the roles actors play might somehow reflect their true personalities. It's usually not true, but British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 34, is an exception.
Just like Fleabag, the character she played in the comedy-drama series of the same name, Waller-Bridge feels that her life is a mess. "It's just really wonderful to know that a dirty and messed up woman can make it to the Emmys," she said. She may be "messed up", but Variety magazine calls her an "all-around icon".
Last month, Waller-Bridge took home three Emmy awards for her work on Fleabag — best writing in a comedy series, best lead actress, and best comedy series.
Her success is partly because of her family. Waller-Bridge was brought up in a free environment. Her mother always told her, "You can be whatever you want if you imagine it." So Waller-Bridge broke all the rules about what a "good" girl should do. "Our laws and moral codes don't apply — she lives without fear of consequence," The Sun noted.
That fearlessness extends to being authentic (真实的) in her writing and acting. Unlike the can-do heroines and strong, successful women in many TV dramas, Waller-Bridge shows a flawed but real character. The character Fleabag was a screw-up who always found a way to say or do the wrong thing. "It resonated with the lives of stressed-out women everywhere in reality — doing their best to find balance in their lives," a viewer wrote on US movie website.
Villanelle in Killing Eve, another hit TV series developed by Waller-Bridge, was a little bit violent but showed no interest for the rules others created, which make many people see themselves in her.
"People have been scared to write characters like these. But I think, now, women are so relieved to have this new template (样板). And, aren't we all a bit of everything?" Waller-Bridge said in an interview with Indian Express.
With such courage and sincerity, Waller-Bridge is, without a doubt, a "golden girl" in Hollywood, Australian news website The New Daily commented.
