She has played high-powered women from Anne Boleyn to Cherie Blair. But stepping into the shoes of the impossibly cool Camille Cottin in UK comedy reboot Ten Percent has made her ‘the most nervous I’ve ever been’
Lydia Leonard may not be a household name, but she has played plenty of them. From her Tony-nominated turn as Anne Boleyn in the West End and Broadway productions of Wolf Hall to a stint as Jackie Onassis on stage and Virginia Woolf on TV – not to mention her forthcoming appearance as Cherie Blair in The Crown – the 40-year-old takes transforming into incredibly famous and impressive women entirely in her stride. But none of them have proved anywhere near as daunting as her latest role.
“It was probably the most nervous I’ve been,” says Leonard, leaning anxiously over a picnic table outside an east London coffee shop. “Well, terrified.” She corrects herself again. “I mean, thrilled.”
