Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page told she couldn't act "because she's Welsh"
The actress says she was told by a director's assistant she couldn't perform because of her nationality
Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has revealed she was constantly told that being Welsh meant she couldn't act.
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The 48-year-old says was told by a director's assistant that they initially thought she s***, but it was actually because of her nationality.
Page ended up graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1998 and went on to land the role of Stacey in the hit sitcom Gavin and Stacey.
"A director's assistant, who I had to work with there, came up to me and said ‘I know what it is. All these years I always thought that you were s--t, but it’s not that, it’s that you’re Welsh," she told the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
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She added: "I couldn’t believe it. I turned around and I walked out, and I have never ever been back since."
The actress also spoke of experiencing "loads" of MeToo moments which were the "norm" on some jobs, although not on Gavin and Stacey.
Last month she also revealed she had been groped by a "handsy TV star" as part of a new memoir.
Referring to one anonymous actor, she said: "He was just very difficult to work with and was just so sort of smutty in everything he was saying.
"As a young female it's utterly terrifying and if somebody says stuff that is really inappropriate it is very difficult as a young woman to go 'can we just stop filming?'"
"I literally couldn’t speak. I got back to my trailer at the end of filming, and I told the producer straight away."
Page was last seen as her Gavin and Stacey character in the series finale shown at Christmas which she recalled the behind-the-scenes shots were emotional.
She said: "Weirdly I didn’t cry through any of it watching it on Christmas Day, even though I'd been crying so much all the way through.
"It was only afterwards, about new year, when we watched the behind-the-scenes documentary, that really set me off and I just couldn’t stop crying for that whole day then. It was borderline traumatic."
She also revealed the moment she knew the 2024 finale was planned after receiving a missed call from co-writer James Cordon.
"I just thought oh my god it's happening, it's happening," she added.
"I was excited because I thought I'm going to know if he says yes, I'm going to know if he says yes.
"When they said, don't tell anybody I said oh my God, James, of course I won't.
"I put the phone down and phoned my mother.
"And then I told my husband and then when the script arrived, I just showed it to mum straight away and (my husband) James."
Full Gavin and Stacey reunion cast:
- Mathew Horne as Gavin Shipman
- Joanna Page as Stacey West/Shipman
- James Corden as Smithy (Neil Smith)
- Ruth Jones as Nessa Jenkins
- Alison Steadman as Pam Shipman (Gavin's mum)
- Larry Lamb as Mick Shipman (Gavin's dad)
- Melanie Walters as Gwen West (Stacey's mum)
- Rob Brydon as Uncle Bryn West
- Julia Davis as Dawn Sutherland (Gavin's colleague)
- Adrian Scarborough as Pete Sutherland (Dawn's husband)
- Robert Wilfort as Jason
- Sheridan Smith as Rudi