The co-star of Leigh’s latest film, Hard Truths, on her bond with the director, portraying mental health issues and why she’s loving the awards circuit
Born in London, Michele Austin trained at Rose Bruford College before beginning a wide-ranging career on television, film and stage. She was Yvonne Hemmingway in The Bill for three years from 2003, and more recently starred opposite Ben Whishaw as straight-talking midwife Tracy in This Is Going to Hurt on BBC One. On stage, most recently Austin appeared in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Cyrano and in his revival of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect at the National Theatre. She has worked with director Mike Leigh five times, most notably in 1996’s Palme d’Or-winning Secrets and Lies, and has now been nominated for several awards for her role as Chantelle, the loving sister of Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s character Pansy in Leigh’s latest film, Hard Truths. She is married to Nick Stafford, who adapted War Horse for the stage. They have two children.
When did you first work with Mike Leigh?
It was my second or third job in a play called It’s A Great Big Shame at Stratford East. Luckily for me, because I was fresh out of drama school, I didn’t know how important he was. He asked me to do something, and it seemed to me quite simple. A lot of people mess up when they meet him because they want to do something impressive. He’s very clear: don’t do anything interesting. I met Marianne at the same time. We played sisters then too. After that I played her friend in Secrets and Lies and we’ve remained friends. To do Hard Truths 30 years on has been so special.