In a recent interview, Olivia Cooke, currently best known for her role in ‘House of the Dragon’, talked about how her family views her enormous success.
Olivia Cooke has opened up about the hurdles of breaking into the entertainment industry as a working-class actor with a northern accent. She is perhaps best known at the moment for her role in House of the Dragonthe HBO series currently in its third season.
Article continues below advertisement
Season three premieres June 22 on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and Now, the UK streaming service. The endgame is already in sight as the series concludes with its fourth and final season.
Article continues below advertisement
Speak with The GuardianCooke opened up about how her family views her enormous success and the gap between where she came from and where she ended up.
“You’re not working class anymore”
Despite her global success, her own mother no longer fully buys into the working-class label.
“She says, ‘You’re not working class anymore,’” Cooke laughs. “I think my sensibility still comes from working class. I just, against all odds, became very successful in my field.”
Article continues below advertisement
Cooke also addressed what she sees as a serious problem facing television, film and theater: the risk of becoming completely “homogenized” and “boring” without proper funding for youth arts programs.
Article continues below advertisement
“There’s a huge amount of talent in these places, but you have to fund them, and it can’t just be the fate of Harrow and Eton because you’re only going to get one side of the story, and it’s not going to be true,” she said.
She says limiting opportunities for people from Britain’s most prestigious private schools means the public gets only one perspective, while funding drama workshops in working-class areas would reveal a much wider range of voices and stories.
Article continues below advertisement
Her passion for the subject comes from personal experience. Cooke started attending the Oldham Theater Workshop, a local youth group at the end of her street, at the age of eight. She has dryly traced the origins of her performance instinct to growing up as the eldest of two daughters in a divorced family, remembering a lot of “Look at me, love me” energy as a child.
Article continues below advertisement
With arts funding under increasing pressure, Cooke was direct about her frustration with the political response. She said: “I thought with a Labor government these things would be a priority, but it feels like that’s not the case,” referring to Britain’s current Labor government, which came to power in 2024.
She also emphasized that creative spaces matter beyond just producing the next generation of artists.
“Even if you don’t want to be an actor, it’s important to have a place where you can express yourself and not be locked in your room with your phone. You can develop social skills. Kids these days are so isolated. And with the rise of the manosphere, the antidote to that is playing and showing boys that they can be tender and emotional and that it’s beautiful, cool and mind-expanding to be on stage,” Cooke said.
Leave a Reply