Richard E. Grant finds it appealing to play outsiders.
The 63-year-old actor, who was born and raised in Swaziland, now Eswatini, admitted that "being an immigrant in England" left him with a "sense that you are an outsider looking in" and he believes this has affected what kind of roles he is drawn to.
When asked in an interview with Empire magazine whether he finds it appealing playing outsiders, he said: "I suppose so. I wonder if that’s partly to do with where I grew up, and then being an immigrant in England at the age of 25. I think there’s inevitably a sense that you are an outsider looking in.
The star recently received an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Jack Hock in the crime drama ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’ but the ‘Logan’ actor confessed that he hasn’t felt the need to write an acceptance speech because he doesn’t think he has a chance of winning when he’s up against Sam Elliott (‘A Star is Born’), Sam Rockwell (‘Vice’), Mahershala Ali (‘Green Book’) and Adam Driver (‘BlacKkKlansman’).
He said: "It feels like it’s jinxing to prepare something to say, because I think the reality is, when I see the competition, which is absolutely loud-and-clear, neon-lit, I have no delusion I’m going to be the one blathering. "
Although Richard has his doubts about actually winning the award, the star was overwhelmed with happiness upon hearing about his nomination and admitted he and his daughter, Olivia, "burst into tears" when they heard the news.
He said earlier this week: "It feels completely surreal; I was sitting with my daughter in a restaurant in Notting Hill Gate just round the corner from where this happened.
"Where I lived in this bedsit in 1982 when I first immigrated to England and it was when I got the news – she was watching this live feed on her phone we had earpieces in, we both just burst into tears and people around us thought we had some terrible news. "
Richard E Grant attracted to outsider roles
