Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has shared the shocking moment she was told she “wasn’t pretty enough” ahead of an audition.
The 46-year-old got candid about life as a working actor and how brutal the industry can be, especially when starting out while appearing on Wednesday’s Loose Women.
Page explained that not only was she told to spruce up her appearance, she was also told to change her accent if she wanted to progress within the audition process.
Sharing her experience with co-hosts Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan and Brenda Edwards, the Love Actually star began: “I had an audition and I’d been back about nine times and it was going really good.
“And then they said to my agent, ‘Could you please tell her that we just don’t think she’s pretty enough before the next callback? And to go to the department store and get them to do her make-up and everything and then come to the audition’.
“I went back and that still wasn’t good enough and then they said, ‘We’re worried about her accent, can she then go and have coaching?’
“And then I had the coaching and then I got the part. It’s brutal, but you’ve just got to take it. It’s hard.”
Although Page didn’t share what role she was auditioning for at the time, she explained how she sometimes struggled with the rejection of the industry.
The actress concluded: “The worse thing is not finding out that you haven’t got the job until actually you’re seeing it on the TV and then you go, ‘Oh gosh, this is why I didn’t get the part’.”
