How the soap star has gone from girl next door to superstar
WORDS: ROBYN MORRIS
Michelle Keegan has been a household name ever since she joined Coronation Street as Tina McIntyre back in 2008, aged 20. She’s had several roles since leaving the soap in 2014, including Georgie Lane in BBC’s Our Girl, Erin Croft in Sky’s Brassic and Kate Thorne in the BBC and Stan co-production Ten Pound Poms. But her portrayal of Maya Stern in the hugely successful Fool Me Once, a Harlan Coben thriller launched on Netflix earlier this month, has taken her fame to a whole new level. The star, who is married to presenter Mark Wright, has said, ‘I feel like I’m living my dream.’ Here, we look at how she’s overcome hurdles to climb her way to the top.
Humble beginnings
The Stockport-born daughter of a police officer and a dinner lady, Michelle, 36, felt she had to work hard to be taken seriously after starting her acting career in a soap. ‘In the industry, there’s a lot of snobbery surrounding soaps,’ she said. ‘But I feel like it’s the best learning experience, working with three different directors in one day, bouncing between different storylines – one minute I was crying over a death, then I was giving birth – it is a unique experience. But it’s rare that soap gets any recognition.’ She added, ‘Because it’s seen as working class, people look down on it.’ And speaking of her northern accent, she’s admitted, ‘I’ve always thought I had to act and speak a particular way. I didn’t want people to look down on me.’
Proud of her roots
However, she’s come to embrace her roots. ‘There are so many great actors now who come from working-class backgrounds, who represent people like me,’ she said. ‘Like Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham – they’re so comfortable and proud of who they are, they’ve helped me realise I don’t have to change my accent when I go into these rooms.’
Something else Michelle has struggled to come to terms with throughout her career is the focus on her looks. During her time in Corrie, Michelle has admitted to feeling obliged to do ‘sexy’ lads mag photo shoots. She explained, ‘I felt pressure and I am a bit of a people pleaser. It was the norm then to do sexy spreads in men’s magazines and go to the award ceremonies where they’d have “sexiest female”. I was never comfortable with it.’
And referencing the fact that she was often voted for those sexiest female gongs, rather than awards for her a
