Woman of the Week: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Groundbreaking, BAFTA-winning, jaw-droppingly frank and outrageously funny: there are so many reasons to love this British actress and writer. Here are just a few…
Name: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Age: 32
Nationality: British
Occupation: Actress, writer and director
Incredible moment
Waller-Bridge’s BAFTA-winning performance in TV comedy series Fleabag laid bare the agonies and desires of a 30-something woman. When the six-parter aired in 2016, audiences were awed – it felt more honest than anything else on TV. Waller-Bridge, the star of the show, was also the architect of this relatable narrative that showcased the pain, recklessness, sexual expression and inner monologue of its protagonist to moving and hilarious affect. Next up, Waller-Bridge has penned BBC America’s new female-led thriller, Killing Eve (set for an April release), and she’s starring in the bound-to-be blockbuster Solo: A Star Wars Story, opening in May. The best news? A second series of Fleabag has been confirmed for 2019.
“Being proper and sweet and nice and pleasing is a f***ing nightmare. It’s exhausting
”Phoebe Waller-Bridge, The Guardian, 2017
She says
“Being proper and sweet and nice and pleasing is a f***ing nightmare. It’s exhausting. As women, we get the message about how to be a good girl – how to be a good, pretty girl – from such an early age. Then, at the same time, we’re told that well-behaved girls won’t change the world or ever make a splash. So it’s sort of like, well, what…am I supposed to be? I’m supposed to be a really polite revolutionary. It’s impossible.” Phoebe Waller-Bridge, The Guardian, 2017
They say
“I loved Fleabag so much – and I love Phoebe Waller-Bridge… Because she really played with all those ideas of what ‘makes you a feminist’ and what makes you a ‘bad feminist’, and what makes you a good contribution and what makes you a bad contribution to society. And it is all just so complicated.” Lena Dunham, The Guardian, 2017
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