Ruth Wilson
British theatre and television in the early twenty-first century produced a wave of actors who moved fluidly between the stage and screen, drawing on rigorous classical training to take on demanding dramatic roles. Ruth Wilson, born in 1982 in Ashford, is one of those actors, working across stage, film, and television as a UK citizen.
Wilson attended Notre Dame Senior School and Esher College before going on to the University of Nottingham. She then trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a path that fed directly into her work as a stage actor. That theatrical grounding brought her both the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and the Theatre World Award, while her film work has developed alongside her stage career throughout her professional life.
On television, Wilson took on the role of Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair, which ran from 2014 to 2018. The role kept her at the centre of the series for the better part of four years. With the Olivier Award for Best Actress and the Theatre World Award already on her record, Wilson's career across stage, film, and television reflects the breadth of work her training at LAMDA was designed to support.
Quotes by Ruth Wilson
There's a sense most notably with my movies that for people to turn up, and make them big, you have to have a celebrity status. But it's not a choice I've made. It comes to you.
People don't know what goes on in my private life, so they have to make conjecture from something that is photographed.
Judgment comes from you comparing yourself to other people, and expectations of what you think life should be.
The only ultimate power you have as a human being is over your choice to live or die. Everything else is chaos. If you try and think you have control over some of your life, essentially, that's the only real control you have, is whether you decide to exist.
I think I'm a bit of a loner, and actually quite enjoy alone time; friends become people you want to actually spend time with rather than people who are just in your life. I think it's a nice place to be.
I've always been very vocal, but there have been moments where I've found it difficult to negotiate things that are about gender.
I come from the south, so you're useless, and you're a bit pathetic. That's the first thing that the northerners think of you. You're also from the city, so you are used to having your cappuccinos and your luxuries and getting your chicken from a plastic packet.
I've got friends who are so good at getting away with things, like going up to the desk to get upgraded on a plane, for example. I haven't got any of that kind of confidence in those situations. I look so awkward. I act awkward. I'm really apologetic.
I don't know about writing. It's quite lonely. You have to have a lot of patience with yourself. I don't know if I could do that. But I'd love to direct again.