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Sophie Winkleman Interviews

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"Sophie Strikes Gold", You Magazine, 24 February 2004

Debbie Levine is the sort of best friend we have all encountered. Frenetic and gossipy, she has a wardrobe to die for, a lip gloss for every occasion and likes nothing better than to engross herself in the lives of others. Debbie doesn't actually exist, however - she's a character in a new British film, Suzie Gold. But she is played with such conviction by Sophie Winkleman that you could be forgiven for thinking Sophie is something of a Debbie herself.

"Oh God, I really hope I'm not", she says, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I'll leap to the aid of friends if they need me, but I don't try to run their lives, because I have no idea how to run my own".

Having just watched Sophie negotiate her way through our photo shoot, expressing her definite preference for a Sass & Bide T-shirt over a Temperley dress, I would say she is quite capable of running her life with exhuberant precision. How else does a 22-year-old actress, barely a year out of university, build up a CV that includes lead roles in TV dramas such as Poirot and Waking the Dead, a part in a critically acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company production and nominations for two coveted best newcomer awards?

Her latest film looks like being another astute career move. As Debbie, she is the alter ego of the eponymous Suzie Gold, a North London Jewish girl (played by Summer Phoenix), who is torn between marrying a "perfect" Jewish boy or running off with the smart, sexy but non-Jewish Darren, whom she has met at work. Written and produced by Rebecca Green, daughter of former Carlton chairman Michael Green, the film is an affectionate parody of tight-knit Jewish communities, but its themes - friendship, loyalty and pushy parents - are universal.

As a North London girl of Jewish stock herself, Sophie is familiar with Debbie's and Suzie's world, but only from the sidelines. Her own upbringing more accurately reflects the complexities of the modern-day extended family. Sophie's father is Barry Winkleman, a publisher (and non-practising Jew); her mother Cindy Black is a copywriter and children's author. Sophie is the only child from their marriage, but she also has a half sister - TV presenter Claudia Winkleman - from her father's first marriage to journalist Eve Pollard, and an "unofficial" brother, Ollie, who is Eve's son from her second marriage. "Yes, it is all so terribly complicated," sighs Sophie. "But it was more so for Claudia. Ollie and I were born a day apart and I've always thought what a nightmare it must have been to spend eight years as the apple of your parents' eyes, then to find yourself presented with two siblings within two days. But she has never been anything but sweet and generous with me." There was never any rivalry between the two girls, she adds. "Eight years is the perfect age gap. We were never close enough to argue about boys or clothes".

For a fleeting moment during her teens, Sophie thought that she might want to emulate Claudia, who was by then presenting a satellite TV breakfast show. "She agreed to take me along for a week's work experience, and I lasted one day. I couldn't bear it. I can't think of anything worse than being a presenter, and she hates the thought of being an actress. She is paid to be herself and I am paid for being different people, and that suits me better."

Sophie's moment of epiphany came at 16, when she won a place at the National Theatre summer school, where she learned how to do sketches and monologues. Later she went to Cambridge to read English, and there quickly became involved with the Footlights student revue company - launch pad for, among others, her icon Emma Thompson. As well as performing, she wrote a comedy script that led to her being nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival. By her second year she was being talent scouted by London agents. She signed with Dallas Smith, whose protégés include Kate Winslet and Catherine McCormack, and she found herself lined up with work as soon as she graduated. "I did think about going to drama school, but I seemed to be learning more on the job."

Her most prominent TV work so far was for the BBC's Waking the Dead, in which she played both a murder victim and her sister. Elsewhere, she has been building up an eclectic portfolio, travelling to Los Angeles and Toronto for a film called Chasing Alice ("I played a young spy who wore incredible clothes and make-up, which was quite fun") and then to Stratford-Upon-Avon, where she won acclaim for her role in the RSC's Christmas show, Beauty and the Beast. She was thrilled to find herself sitting alongside Dame Judi Dench in the make-up room. "She manages to be both an epic actress and yet non-thespie, which I so admire. I don't like to see actors getting too pleased with themselves. I want to say to them, 'You're not saving anyone's life, you know'."

This is not to suggest that Sophie doesn't take her work seriously. For the part of Debbie, she immersed herself in Jewish culture, heading for London's Hampstead on Saturday nights to mix with Jewish teenagers - "they probably thought I was weird" - and to St John's Wood High Street, "where you are surrounded by the most beautifully maintained Jewish women, with perfect hair and nails - very unlike my own." In real life, Sophie confesses to being "lazily low maintenance - I tend to wear jeans, trainers and a ponytail most days." However, she did work on her "designer Jewish princess" look to play Debbie. "I also had someone to model myself on, although perhaps, as she is a friend of my sister's, I'd better not elaborate on that."

Sophie's work schedule has left scant time for a social life, and yet, when pressed, she does admit to having a boyfriend - a sports journalist called Harry, whom she met recently at a ball. "I am very slow - it takes me months to get to the kissing stage. So I am still treading water, which is why I don't want to say too much. Mum has always banged it into my head that I should be difficult with men, and I have to say that it comes naturally."

She is now sharing a flat in London with an old girlfriend from university, though she wants one day to live in the country: "I have this rustic dream of being surrounded by 20 children - I definitely want a big brood of my own - and baking cakes all day. But not quite yet."

What's next, then? "God, I don't think that far ahead. There is no game plan. I just hop from one thing to the other, throw myself into whatever I am doing and hope for the best. Is that a bad thing?"

Reporter: Catherine O'Brien.

Poirot Interview with Sophie Winkleman

"Poirot, Five Little Pigs", ITV

Despite Angela’s disability, Sophie Winkleman is certain Angela has come out as one of the strongest:

‘She turns out to be the most admirable of the lot. She has to survive in an age where looks were absolutely essential to get on in life, so instead she concentrated on her talent as a leading archaeologist as opposed to her image.’

Angela’s disability is the result of her sister Caroline’s moment of rage:

‘Angela was probably a nightmare child, and simply desperate for Caroline’s attention. The accident was clearly a moment of madness, and I think Angela plays on this and laps up the tenderness Caroline gives her.’

Angela admits that the end of summer 1924 was the end of her childhood:

‘It’s a tragedy, but Angela had to grow up really quickly following Amyas’s death. Caroline had always been there for her, and suddenly Angela’s support network was taken away.’

In preparing for the role, Sophie spoke to a number of people to get a sense of how to play the role:

‘One of the main points I garnered was that in Angela’s situation, she would have probably been treated at arms length, but in a sweet and charitable way, which is clearly a pretty condescending attitude.’

Reading Five Little Pigs, was also a good source of research for Sophie:

‘I started off with the script as a basis, and then I found reading the book a useful tool as it helped give me a sense of the characters. I certainly began to understand how in command Angela is of herself, compared to the others who were all slightly shattered people. She overcomes everything, and doesn’t let what happened to her affect her at all.’

The transition of Sophie into Angela was a performance in itself:

‘In a sense it was fairly repulsive! I had white contact lenses fitted and the whole process took hours to complete by a number of make-up artists - and they had a bit of a nightmare with me, as I was a bit squeamish! I actually couldn’t see when they were in, which was terrifying.’

Having previously worked in America, it was refreshing for Sophie to play a character not obsessed with her appearance:

‘I was also intrigued by the fact that although she could be a victim, she’s actually very strong.’