Needless to say,Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s night is off to an excellent start.
At the2019 Emmy Awardson Sunday, the British actress, writer and producertook home the award for best writing for a comedy seriesandbest actress forFleabag, her hit Amazon/BBC series about the sexual misadventures of a woman known only as Fleabag, originally based on her 2013 one-woman stage play of the same name.
The best actress win was particularly significant as Waller-Bridge, 34, beatVeep‘sJulia Louis-Dreyfus, who was nominated for her record 19th acting Emmy.
Read on for what you need to know about the charming and talented star.
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She grew up in an upper-class family with baronets on both sides.
According toBBC America, Waller-Bridge’s maternal grandfather was Sir John Edward Longueville Clerke, 12th Baronet of Hitcham. And on her paternal side, she’s a descendant of Sir Egerton Leigh, who served as a member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire for a few years during the Victorian era.
Despite her prominent roots and upbringing, she has said that even as a little girl, she loved to shock.
“My grandmother was very proper and Christian and buttoned up,” she toldThe Guardianlast year. “I adored her. She was very shockable, and as a kid shockable people were my ideal playmates. She would always want to have a prayer before we ate and I’d always be like, ‘Please can I do it, please can I do it, I’ve practiced one.’ … At school, when I was about [7], I’d heard someone say, ‘Good meat, good God, let’s eat,’ and I thought, well, that’s quite fun. It wasn’toutrageous, just slightly irreverent.”
She auditioned for a role inDownton Abbey— but didn’t get it.
“I went in, and I remember it was quite a serious part and I had really been auditioning for comedy for a couple of years and I was really thrilled to come in for this part, so I put my heart and soul into it,” she toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2017. “I went in thinking, ‘I’m going to give my best, sincere, heartbreaking performance.’ It was a really beautiful scene in a church; there’s a little clue. And I went in and I gave this really heartfelt audition, and when I finished, they were like, ‘We had no idea she was so f—— hilarious!’ I had really given myself, and they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re not right.’ ”
Fleabagbegan as a dare.
In a 2017 interview with U.K. publicationThe Gentlewoman, Waller-Bridge said that her friend and fellow comedian Deborah Frances-White was organizing a stand-up night as part of the London Storytelling Festival and challenged her to write a 10-minute piece.
“I just felt like being outrageous,” Waller-Bridge recalled. “And what popped out was this girl who is wickedly honest about her sex life.”
But behind the bravado, the darkly funny character also struggles with grief, insecurity and guilt. “That was really important to me,” Waller-Bridge explained. “Otherwise the sex stuff seems like affectation.”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge inFleabag.Steve Schofield/Amazon Prime Video
Season 2, which Waller-Bridge has said is the last, was released earlier this year. Speaking toThe Hollywood Reporterlast month, she confirmed that Fleabag’s sexcapades are indeed over … for now.
“I feel like it’s done, but I do have a fantasy of bringing her back when I’m, like, 45 or 50,” she said. “She went on the biggest journey over the past two seasons, and she started as someone who sort of hated herself and ended up as someone believing that she could love again and forgive herself. I have to respect that arc and let her go and live for a bit.”
Amazon
She adaptedKilling Evefor television.
Killing Eve, which has been renewed for a third season, starsSandra OhandJodie Comer.
The show earned Waller-Bridge her first Emmy nomination for outstanding writing for a drama series last year. It is also up for best drama series at Sunday’s ceremony.
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She voiced the droid L3-37 in theStar WarsmovieSolo: A Star Wars Story.
But as she recalled onThe Graham Norton Show, she didn’t know what a droid was before she auditioned for the part — and had never even seen aStar Warsmovie.
She co-wrote the upcoming Bond movie.
“It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly.Hedoesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character,” Waller-Bridge said viaDeadline.
You’ll see her soon onSaturday Night Live.
Waller-Bridge’s huge year continues with herSNLhosting debut this fall. She’s scheduled to host the NBC sketch comedy series on Oct. 5, when the musical guest will be none other than pop superstarTaylor Swift.
The 71st PrimetimeEmmy Awardsare airing live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
source: people.com
