The actor and campaigner recreates an early moment dressed as a cowboy and recalls growing up with tough matriarchs
Born in north-west London in 1966, Tracy-Ann Oberman is an actor and writer. Her early career was spent with the Royal Shakespeare Company before starring in comedy and drama series such as Big Train, Doctor Who, EastEnders, Toast of London, Friday Night Dinner and It’s a Sin. Oberman, a vocal campaigner against antisemitism, performs as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1936) from 27 February until 25 March in Watford and Manchester, a role inspired by the life of her great-grandmother, a Jewish woman who stood on the frontline against the fascists at the Battle of Cable Street. Oberman lives with her husband and daughter in London.
This is me aged two and a half, on our annual summer holiday in Bournemouth. We’d go with a whole load of families from our local area in Kenton, and there was a fancy-dress party in the hotel that day. My mum had forgotten to pack me anything to wear, so I had to put on my friend Antony’s cowboy outfit. I’m doing a polite smile but I was really pissed off and thinking: “What the hell is this? I just wanted to be a princess!” Now I love the costume, because it’s unusual to see a little girl as a cowboy; it looks like an emblem of my early doors feminism. I also see total innocence – even if I was disappointed about those clothes, I hadn’t yet experienced how mercurial life could be.
