The one lesson I’ve learned from life: Joanna Scanlan says always ask for what you want
- Joanna Scanlan, 58, who lives in London, is best known for role in The Thick Of It
- She was told she would be ill for the rest of her life, if she doesn’t go back to work
- She says if you don’t put your agenda on the table, you’re unlikely to have it met
Joanna, 58, is best known for her roles in The Thick Of It, Rev and No Offence. She was nominated for a Bafta for NHS comedy Getting On. She is married to Neil, an accountant, and lives in London.
I grew up in the middle-class society of the 1960s where children were seen and not heard (instead of asking for the butter, you waited for someone to offer it to you). Then the world I had been educated for, at my nicey-nicey girls’ boarding school, got washed away by the tides of the 1970s and 80s.
I was trained for a world that didn’t exist any more. It took me a long time to realise that I actively had to ask — and in a way which, to me, felt quite rude and vulgar — for things I wanted.
When I went to Queens’ College Cambridge, it was a brutalising experience. It was the first year of women in our college (we were 39 women to 500 men), and none of what went on would be considered OK today. There was a sexually aggressive atmosphere: intimidating, frightening. But it was also that I was unprepared for it. I didn’t like being the target of men’s attention. I think I put on weight as a protective armour.
Joanna Scanlan, 58, (pictured) who lives in London, revealed how a breakdown at age 29, helped her to realise you have to ask for what you want
I joined Footlights [the comedy troupe whose alumni include Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson]. After college I had a lot of failed auditions, so I became a drama lecturer, then worked at the Arts Council. But I longed to act.
I had a breakdown at 29 triggered by work stress and went back to live with my parents in Wales. Some days all I could do was walk the dog. But then the GP told me: ‘If you don’t go back to acting, you’ll be ill for the rest of your life.’
I had to go through the most ignominious and embarrassing thing of ringing up acquaintances and saying: ‘Actually I’d like to start to be a professional actress. Do you have a job for me?’
And two of them came back saying: ‘Yes, funnily enough, I might have.’ I got two jobs out of those phone calls.
There is a perception that things should be offered to you if you are worthy of them. But it’s perfectly OK to say: ‘I’ve got a hunch I might be good at this, please can I put it to you?’
As a woman, it’s easy to err on the side of modesty. But you can be open and honest without being bigheaded. You have the right to ask for what you want. If you don’t put your own agenda on the table, you’re unlikely to have it met.
Joanna Scanlan is a judge for the Comedy Women In Print Prize (comedywomeninprint.co.uk).