Jodie Comer became an actress after being thrown out of a girl band.
The ‘Killing Eve’ actress was due to perform in a school talent show with three of her friends, but they dropped her from their performance after she went on a family holiday and was unable to rehearse – so on the advice of her mother, she decided to do a solo monologue instead and instantly got the "buzz" for public performance.
She said: "I was elbowed out of the girl band! That’s when I first got the buzz for performing in front of other people…
"I was planning on doing the talent show and midway through rehearsals I went away on holiday with my family.
"When I was away I was spending all my time on the computer and the girls had been in touch to say I couldn’t be in the dance any more because I wasn’t there to rehearse.
"You know when you’re a kid and you’re so upset you lose your breath? I remember going up to my mum and being so distraught.
"She was like, ‘Why don’t you go back and ask your drama teacher if you can do your monologue? Do your own thing’."
The move paid off and the 25-year-old star went on to win a competition at the Liverpool Drama Festival before landing an audition for a BBC Radio 4 drama.
She added to the ‘Two Shot’ podcast: "An actress kindly introduced me to her agent and now I am here!
"So I’m always like, ‘Mum, imagine if they didn’t leave me out of the group. What would I be doing’?"
Despite her career success, the ‘My Mad Fat Diary’ actress confessed she failed her drama GCSE.
She admitted: "This is really embarrassing. For my drama GCSE I got an A* in my practical and I got a U [ungraded] in my written! I would have liked to have been more disciplined, maybe.
"I’m disciplined now but in a different way."
Jodie has experienced a new level of fame thanks to ‘Killing Eve’ and is thankful for the advice and support she’s been given by co-star Sandra Oh and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
She said: "We went to a TV festival in Cannes, we were all having a little drink and they were like, ‘Just so you know, when this goes out it might get a bit crazy’. I’m around Sandra a lot, she gets recognised everywhere and I can see how intense that can be.
"I’m in no way in that kind of bracket but they were like, ‘This is something you need to be more aware of’. They gave me a heads up."
Jodie Comer turned to acting after musical rejection
