Dame Imelda Staunton: Acting is a business of comparisons

Dame Imelda Staunton has reflected on her experience in the film and TV business.

Dame Imelda Staunton believes young performers need to learn to “accept rejection”.

The 69-year-old actress has enjoyed a hugely successful career in the film and TV business, but Imelda believes up-and-coming performers need to show resilience if they’re to enjoy sustained success.

Imelda told The Independent: “It’s hard, because acting is a business of comparisons. Why am I not doing that job? Well, because you are not. You have to accept rejection, and if you can’t accept it then get out.”

Despite this, Imelda believes the industry has changed markedly in recent years.

The award-winning star – whose daughter, Bessie Carter, has also become a successful actress – said: “There seem to be about 22 million more actors now.

“During the time of Maggie [Smith] and Robert Stephens [the late parents of the actor Toby Stephens], you could count actors with that level of celebrity on one hand. Now it’s not unusual for children to have parents who are also actors, simply because there are so many of them.”

Imelda previously revealed that she refuses to “sugarcoat it” whenever she talks to drama students about the realities of the entertainment industry.

She told Vogue: “I go and talk to drama students. I say, ‘Listen, I’m telling you this now. You have to deal with rejection all the time. Now, remember: the day you don’t get that job, someone else gets it. It’s their turn that day.’ You have to look at it like that because it’ll eat you up otherwise.”

Imelda has been married to actor Jim Carter since 1983, and she explained how they approach their careers.

The actress said: “Success is a really tricky word. And it should be spelled with a very small S. I think it poisons people.

“I feel Jim and I have made our lives work as a marriage within this business, and we take our life more seriously than our jobs. Of course, we both take [the job] very seriously. But you go, what’s the most important thing here? That I play another part? Or that we go on a very nice holiday, or that we have that time in the garden, that we have our life?”