Jodie Whittaker wants to be a role model for boys as well as girls.
The 36-year-old actress has taken over the lead role in ‘Doctor Who’ from Peter Capaldi and while she is thrilled to be paving the way for young girls as the first female Time Lord, she says it is also hugely important for young boys to look up to women.
She told The Australian: "I am asked an awful lot about girls looking up to me as the first female Doctor, but just as important is boys looking up to women."
And Jodie was thrilled to recently meet a young male fan, who was dressed up as her version of the Doctor.
Meanwhile, Jodie has previously insisted that gender should not be a concern when it comes to casting the Doctor as the Time Lord is an "alien who inhabits different bodies".
She said: "I knew that there would be a huge amount of people it would be a shock for. But this job celebrates change more than any other role – you have a physical regeneration, so casting [a woman] supports that story and doesn’t go against the rules of the show in any way.
"I’m playing a Time Lord who’s essentially an alien and inhabits different bodies and this one is female.
"The best thing for me though is that, for the first time in my life, I am not playing a stereotypical woman because as much as I approach everything as an actor, I am continually labelled by the female version of that character.
"I recently had someone ask me, ‘Are you playing it [the Doctor] as a girl or a boy?’ I replied, ‘I’m just playing it’. This is the most freeing role because there are no rules."
Jodie Whittaker wants to be role model for boys
