Hannah Waddingham Reflects on Harsh Comments from Her Drama Teacher

She has a glittering career in acting and has brushed shoulders with hundreds of Hollywood A-listers.

But Hannah Waddingham, 50, almost ditched her acting career entirely, when her former drama teacher mocked her appearance and knocked her confidence.

Hannah, who went to The Academy Of Live And Recorded Arts in Wandsworth where she grew up, was 19-years-old when she was told she would ‘never’ make it.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Hannah recalled the very cruel comments her drama teacher said about her face.

“It looks like one side of her face has had a stroke”, Hannah was told.

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The actress said: ‘She really knocked my confidence so much that I then didn’t audition for things for years on telly.

‘I hope she’s rotting somewhere, silly cow. People like that it’s their own insecurities and I know that now.’

She also revealed she was once told she was ‘too big’ to appear on camera. 

The 5ft 11in actress claimed that she was turned away from roles due to her model stature, saying the general sentiment was ‘you’ll be too big on camera so stay in your lane’.

Hannah revealed that this wasn’t an issue when it came to working with Jason Sudeikis, the 6ft 1in creator and star of Ted Lasso, who was happy for her to wear heels and be taller than him on screen. 

However, Hannah confessed that there were several men who asked her to remove her heels when filming. 

She recalled in the interview: ‘I even had a couple of day players [actors on set briefly] in Ted Lasso going, “Is it all right if she doesn’t wear shoes in this scene?” The heels stayed on.’ 

However, today London-born Hannah is world’s away from receiving negative remarks about her appearance, with fans marvelling over her beauty on social media. 

Following her graduation, Hannah – who is the daughter of opera singer Melodie Kelly – concentrated on making it as a theatre actress.

One of her first jobs was in the interactive dinner show Joni and Gina’s Wedding – where audience members take on the role of wedding guests and are invited to engage with actors.

In 2000, Hannah released the single Our Kind of Love – which was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his musical The Beautiful Game – to commemorate the composer’s 50th birthday.

In 2002, she went on to appear in a production of Space Family Robinson before going on to star as Lady of the Lake in Spamalot, which earned her an Olivier Award nod.

Alongside her West End work, Hannah began auditioning for more and more TV and film roles – having made her big screen debut in 2008’s How To Lose Friends and Alienate People.

In 2014, Hannah was cast as Tonya Dyke in the hit ITV series Benidorm before hitting the big-time in 2016 when she was cast as Septa Unella in the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

The role put Hannah on the Hollywood map – leading her to then be cast as Jackson’s mother Sofia in the hit Netflix series Sex Education in 2019.

Two years later, Hannah’s career reached all new heights when she bagged a starring role as warm-yet-icy football club owner Rebecca Welton in Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso.

Hannah’s latest roles have seen her star in Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning and Lilo & Stich.