Hannah Waddingham Recalls Teacher Telling Her She’d ‘Never Work on Screen’

Before Hannah Waddingham became an Emmy Award winner, one drama teacher predicted she would never succeed in television or film.

During an interview on the BBC Radio 2 podcast “Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers” on Wednesday, January 17, Waddingham, 49, recalled when a former professor insulted her and made fun of her appearance in front of her classmates.

“I had one drama teacher that said to the whole class: ‘Oh, Hannah will never work on screen because she looks like one side of her face has had a stroke,’” Waddingham said.

The British actress starred in theater in England before launching her TV career in 2002 in the BBC sit-com Coupling. Waddingham noted that she did not let the negative comments deter her from pursuing roles.

“I thought, ‘I will do. Come hell or high water, I will work on screen,’” she added.

However, Waddingham did admit the insult gave her “a complex for years.” Eventually, she gained more confidence, leading to over 40 film and TV credits, but mostly small parts.

After over two decades of acting, she was determined to move up to leading roles.

“So I said to my agents at the time, ‘I’m not doing it anymore… If it’s one scene, I’m not doing it anymore, and you shouldn’t be putting me up for it because it’s insulting’,” Waddingham said. “‘I’ve been a leading lady for 22 years. I’m not doing it anymore. I’d rather be in a world where I’m appreciated.’”

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She added, “So I fully stepped back. And then Game of Thrones happened.”

In 2015, Waddingham was cast in the recurring role of Septa Unella in seasons 5 and 6 of the HBO fantasy series.

Five years later, she was cast as Rebecca Welton in Ted Lasso. The role earned her an Emmy win for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021.

While speaking on the “Rule Breakers’ podcast, Waddingham shared how being told she would fail motivated her and served as a theme for her Emmy acceptance speech.

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“This is why, in my Emmys speech, I made a point — the one thing I said to myself [was], if this weird moment comes and I get this award, and I get my foot in this door, I’m going to rip it off its hinges for music theater people, or theater people, to follow,” she explained.

Now that Ted Lasso has come to an end after three seasons, Waddingham has two major films on the docket for 2024. She will star opposite Ryan Gosling in the action comedy The Fall Guy, and make her animation debut in The Garfield Movie, joining a voice cast featuring Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson.

She also has an undisclosed role in the latest film in a blockbuster franchise, Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two starring Tom Cruise, set to premiere in May 2025.