Key Highlights
- Eddie Marsan criticizes the trend of upper-class actors dominating roles traditionally played by working-class actors.
- Marsan highlights the need for greater support for young actors from disadvantaged backgrounds due to financial barriers.
- A 2024 report found that only 8% of British actors come from working-class backgrounds, down significantly from 20% in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Marsan calls out Laurence Fox for complaining about diversity efforts while ignoring past disparities.
The Acting Industry’s Class Divide
British actor Eddie Marsan, known for his roles in blockbuster films such as the Sherlock Holmes series and Mission: Impossible III, has spoken out on a critical issue facing the entertainment industry. In an interview following his appointment as a vice president at Mountview, a prestigious drama school, Marsan discusses the significant class disparity within the acting profession.
The ‘Posh Boys’ Phenomenon
Marsan argues that the trend of upper-class actors taking on working-class roles is detrimental to the industry’s diversity and representation. He points out that when he first ventured into Hollywood, his performances were not well-received despite having portrayed complex characters in films like 21 Grams and Vera Drake. Upon returning to Britain, Marsan noticed a stark contrast: “Coming back from Hollywood, a publicist said to me ‘when we get to London and do publicity for the film 21 Grams we’re going to come to you’… but no one was interested,” he recalls. “I remember coming to Waterloo station and looking up and seeing all these posh actors selling Burberry coats and posters, and they hadn’t done anything compared to what I’d done, and yet they were the image that we were pushing as a country.”
Supporting Young Talent
Marsan emphasizes the financial challenges faced by young actors from disadvantaged backgrounds. He describes his own journey: “I came here when I was in my 20s… I was a bit lost, to be honest… I was serving an apprenticeship as a printer when Mountview offered me a place,” he says. “There were no kinds of grants then, so for the first year an East End bookmaker paid my fees, then my mum and him got together and paid the second year, then Mountview gave me a scholarship for the third year, so I owe them everything.” He goes on to discuss the difficulty actors face in securing financial support today: “I didn’t earn a living as an actor for like six, seven years… now, in order to become an actor, you have to have the bank of mummy and daddy to bankroll you for those seven or eight years when you’re not going to earn a living.”
The Need for Change
Marsan believes that diversity efforts should go beyond just representation; they must address systemic issues. “Even a gangster movie now, 40 years ago you would have something like The Long Good Friday or Get Carter with people like Michael Caine or Bob Hoskins who were real working-class actors playing those parts, now you have posh boys playing working-class characters,” he asserts. He also criticizes actors and industry figures who complain about diversity initiatives: “People like Laurence Fox complaining that it’s unfair, I never heard them complain when you never saw a black face, never once did they say anything. Now that people are trying to address it, they think it’s unfair… because they’re scared of a level-playing field.”
As Mountview celebrates its 80th anniversary, Marsan remains committed to advocating for change in the acting industry. “Look, social media is destroying cultural discourse. It’s making people become very binary… acting and drama is an exercise in empathy and if there’s one thing that we need more of at the moment it’s that,” he concludes.
