EVE MYLES
With the breakthrough success of Keeping Faith, Eve Myles suddenly finds herself amidst mainstream success and a BAFTA Cymru nomination. Carl Marsh finds her in a talkative mood.
What is the biggest misconception the public has about you?
I’m very anti-social, haha! People think I am a bit of a wildcat but if I’m awake after 10pm at night, well, God help anybody the next day! I like pyjamas, a couch and a good film. I’m not a party girl, I’m a home bird. I guess it’s because I play some quite fiery characters, and I like to think of myself as a strong female as I am bringing up two females of my own, so I have got to be a lioness for my girls. Nothing worries me more than walking into room full of strangers, let’s put it like that!
So you don’t enjoy the attention that fame brings you?
Not in the slightest. It’s part of the job that I find very difficult to process. If I can get away with not walking down any red carpet, if I can get in through the back door, then that’s how I will get in. I have only been to two NTAs [National Television Awards] – the first one I managed to get dropped off at the back door, and it was the one where I was nominated for Best Actress. I was so nervous. The second time I was ‘made’ to go down the red carpet but I rushed through, like you probably wouldn’t have even seen me. I went through like the wind. The big event nights makes me a bit of an introvert.
Is it true that you nearly gave up acting before Keeping Faith?
Yes, like anyone who has done something for decades, as this is all I have done really since my second year in drama school when I first got employed. I’ve done it since I was 20 and I’ve just hit 40. I’ve been doing this for 18-20 years, so I had a bit of a wobble. Maybe I was getting frustrated with work. I wasn’t landing the parts I wanted to do, and it all became a little frustrating. I love to work, I am a workaholic, but when I am not working I am a little bit fractious, and a bit lost.
We all have huge responsibilities. I have children to bring up, I have a mortgage to pay, we all have to work yet my work was going in a way where I was being slipped into all these acting roles or auditioning for all these kind of parts. They were lovely, but I didn’t feel like they would keep me awake at night. The reason I felt like that was because I loved my job so much, but when it’s not working out, it becomes a distraction, and that you think that maybe you need to proceed forward with something different. But it keeps dragging me back in. [laughs]
Was it a bit daring that, due to the budgeting/funding that Keeping Faith/Un Bore Mercher had, it had to be shot in both Welsh and English?
It was when I was initially approached about the job. It was a very exciting but daunting prospect but because it was in two languages, one of which I speak, and one of which I don’t! To be able to do the part I needed to be able to do both. It was commissioned by S4C and co-produced with BBC Wales. We shot two programmes which was eight hours of drama in Welsh and eight hours in English, so 16 hours of drama in a very short amount of time.
Now that is commitment for a role, knowing that you learnt Welsh. You’ve been nominated for the leading actress BAFTA Wales this year for the award – how do you feel?
It’s just very nice to have that recognition. Do you know, it’s a funny thing – I never expect to be put up for an award. It is certainly not what I expect as my job is the most important thing but to have recognition like this, especially from BAFTA Cymru, that’s our Welsh BAFTAs. Whatever the outcome is, by just having this recognition, it’s just a very nice feeling to have.
You worked with your husband [Bradley Freeguard] on Keeping Faith; did he get the part before you, and how did you find working with your husband?
I was on board from the beginning really, a long time before they even started auditioning for the other parts. Brad was up for a different part initially and he had to get that on his own merit. I wouldn’t have it any other way, and neither would he. He didn’t hear anything for ages, and then I had an accident and had emergency surgery. Two surgeries in two days. I was in hospital for a while and I remember waking up from having one of my operations. Brad was stood over me and made sure I was ok, then he said he had a bit of news to tell me; he told me that he didn’t get the part of Steve, so I said “Wahay, one door opens and another door closes”. Then he said “I’ve got the part of Evan!”. I just said “Jesus Christ, can somebody give me some more morphine!” I really did think I was on some really bad Friday night out, then I just fell out cold to sleep. When I woke up he was still there and I said to him “Are you playing Evan or did I just dream that?”, and he said “Yes, they’ve offered me the part of Evan”. We are husband and wife yet we couldn’t wait for the challenge. It was a gift of a job.
There’s also the chemistry as well – once I told me wife you were both married in real life, she said “so that’s why the chemistry is so good!”
Oh that’s great. We’ve been together over 20 years, so we didn’t have to work at that, thank God! That would have been awful wouldn’t it? Can you imagine a review saying ‘the show’s great but there is no chemistry between them!”. But you know what, it’s something really lovely and precious; when we’re older and our children are older, it will be something nice for them to keep.
I’d come in some days after having some harrowing scenes to film and he’d be sitting on the sofa saying “Hi love, everything ok?” And I’d be saying “Well if you’d turned up bloody five minutes earlier, everything would be alright wouldn’t it? You’re sitting here with your feet up and I’ve been looking for you all flipping day!”
BAFTA Cymru Awards, Sun 14 Oct, St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Tickets: £98 (reduced rates for BAFTA members). Info: 02920 878444 / www.bafta.org