Faye Marsay on ‘Adolescence’, ‘Andor’ and her love of Rolex

“You’re northern!” Faye Marsay beams excitedly when hearing my Manchester accent when we meet. The Middlesborough-born actress, who still retains her strong North Yorkshire accent, says it’s rare to hear northern, working-class voices like hers in the arts. Marsay, however, defied the odds. 

Born into a strong working-class community, the 38-year-old attended a Saturday drama club in her teens before honing her craft first at the National Youth Theatre, and next at Bristol’s Old Vic Theatre School. “There were no northerners there,” she laughs. “It was not as diverse as you would expect, especially in an art form that has the responsibility of representing everyone and what society looks like in terms of all the different genders, colours, accents and feelings,” she continues. “I was never trying to trail blaze for working class people from my area, but I became very aware of the disparity between the two quite quickly.”

Marsay’s father worked a fireman, while her mum was an NHS secretary. She grew up in the shadow of an industrial north decimated by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s where unemployment ran high. A career in the arts was a distant dream for many young working-class people like Marsay. “When I first started out, I obviously knew that it would be difficult and that I needed to go to drama school in order to get any kind of exposure. This career is not supposed to happen to people like me, from this small town outside of Middlesborough – but it didn’t stop me. I’ve spent 14 years now in this industry.”

Marsay’s breakthrough came in 2013, playing Anne Neville in The White Queen before standout stints in Fresh Meat and The Bletchley Circle followed. The BAFTA nominated film Pride came next, a film based on a true story about lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the miners’ strike in 1984. She followed her acclaimed role in this with performances in the Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, and Black Mirror universes, as well as films alongside David Tenant (You, Me and Him), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) and Rosamund Pike (A Private War). A standout part in Star Wars hit series Andor followed before Marsay earned a leading role in primetime BBC hit drama Ten Pound Poms, following a group of British citizens who emigrate to Australia in the 1950s.

But it’s her latest drama, Adolescence, that feels like a full circle moment for Marsay, the show being made by a team of predominantly working-class creatives and actors. “It was so nice to be in a unit base where you all kind of grew up similar-ish. There’s an unwritten language that you all speak and sort of have a good cackle over. Some of us really felt that we should have never been here and yet here we all are – so that was beautiful.”

The show has also become the most talked about of her career. Marsay stars in Jack Thorne’s Netflix phenomenon as Detective Sergeant Misha Frank alongside Stephen Graham in the four-part series about a 13-year-old boy who is accused of murdering a female classmate. With 114 million views and counting, it’s being hailed as the drama of the decade and has sparked an emotive national conversation about the rise of misogyny and incel culture – especially among young teenage boys. 

“It’s been wild,” Marsay says, reflecting on the show’s impact. “It’s starting conversations that are really necessary that we need to have – it’s reaching parliament and it’s also reaching schools, which is so important.” She’s referring to a recent meeting between UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the show’s creator. Starmer praised Adolescence’s message and said conversations around toxic masculinity, plus strategies to tackle them, were urgently needed then soon after, Netflix announced plans to screen the show in schools for free. 

Marsay has two of the most powerful lines in the show, including one about the influence of self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate on young males, and one about how we rarely remember the names of female victims – but the ones instead of their male perpetrators. “It was a big responsibility,” the 39-year-old actor says, recalling her thoughts when she first read the script and the lines in question. “You have to get the tone right with those words and you have to do them justice. As a female, I feel like I’ve earned the right to say those lines. I [recognise] the exasperation a lot of women and young girls feel in life about how they’re treated and what’s expected of them – and what box they fit into – so delivering lines like that must come from a place of great sincerity.”

Marsay herself is no stranger to toxic masculinity, having received extensive online abuse during her time in Game of Thrones as the Waif. Vitriol was directed at Marsay on account of the actions of her character in the show but much of it had nefarious misogynistic undertones. “Game of Thrones was tricky,” she admits. “You’re doing a job and then someone is being rough with you and I was like, ‘I’m just doing my job!’ It makes you feel defeated and apathetic and almost disconnected. It doesn’t matter how many times you say: ‘please don’t do this, your behaviour is stupid’ – no one is listening to you and that can feel really difficult.”

Marsay retreated away from social media entirely when the abuse intensified – at its worst, she even received rape threats – and has only just started to return, albeit gingerly. “This, at the moment, is the most I’ve posted on Instagram in years,” she says of her posts, all of which are now work related. “I understand the industry has changed and the need to get the word out about a show, to promote a show – I understand all the business side of that. But I’m not super good at posting about my personal life now but that’s fine, because it’s mine. I’m quite shy and sensitive; when I’m not working, I just kind of keep myself to myself.” 

She says she wants those in power to take more responsibility with social media, to break the cycle of toxicity that pervades many of the platforms. “It’s about government and tech companies taking responsibility,” she says, “to try to regulate and get some legislation going about how this incredible beast of social media is used. It’s not the phone or social media that’s inherently bad, it’s how they’re being used and the fact some people are given voices on there that perhaps shouldn’t be.” 

Adolescence, Marsay adds, shows just how much more must be done to protect children online. “It’s about asking kids if they’re alright and connecting with them again. Like if your kids screen time is so much that they don’t talk to you anymore, then they’re probably having too much screen time. But unless it’s challenged, then this will be the next toxic thing that will infiltrate people’s lives and society. People’s brains at that age are still forming and being bombarded with certain messages [isn’t healthy] not to mention the sheer amount of information – it’s overwhelming…and then there’s bullying. You can lay in bed and be bullied now – you can’t just leave it behind at the school gates – and that’s fu***** terrifying. 

“The other thing about this, certainly from a female perspective,” she continues, “is how much women and young girls shrink themselves online, all the anxiousness when comparing themselves to others.” She says she can’t decide if phones should be banned for young people or not, but says she often debates this question. “Sometimes I think ‘yes’ they should be banned and then other times ‘no’,” she says. “But it’s really sad to see kids full of all this energy, innocence and gorgeousness and we’re making their attention spans shit and making them anxious.” That, she says, cannot be right.

After being subject to online abuse in Game of Thrones, Marsay is likely to have feared social media again when joining the huge Star Wars universe via Andor, especially with some of the more toxic pockets of the franchise’s fandoms seen in recent years. Her role in Andor – which returns this month for a new series – made waves as one half of the franchise’s first ever openly gay couples on screen. Unlike Thrones, Marsay hasn’t had any negativity this time round. “The response has been amazing,” she says. “Not one hateful comment as far as I know. I’m not a big comment checker anyway, but nothing that I could see on any of my stuff. I mean, it’s sad, isn’t it, that one should think and expect bad comments for somebody happening to love someone who happens to be the same sex. I find that really odd, but here we are.”

Reflecting on her character Vel Sartha and her on screen partner Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu – our summer cover star), Marsay says they deliberately didn’t want to make a big deal of the relationship. “I think Tony [Gilroy, Andor screenwriter] wanted to normalise the normal. We don’t openly say in season one ‘and here come the gay girls!’ or anything like that. It’s just another relationship – like anybody else’s relationship – which is the point. However, it’s not lost on me that it’s a big deal for a lot of people to see that for the first time in Star Wars. We’ve been given representation where it was needed on a platform that’s ginormous. I’m very proud of that.”

It’s not the first time she’s played a gay character on screen. Marsay starred in the film Pride as Steph, one of a group of LGBTQ+ characters in the film who helped to raise money for striking miners in the 80s. She looks back on the role fondly – and reveals the cast are reuniting for the tenth anniversary of the film’s release this summer.

“The film is still touching people’s hearts. The good thing about the film was that it brought two marginalised groups together that were both being attacked for different reasons,” she says, referencing the Miners whose livelihoods were eradicated and the LGBTQ+ community who were subject to the infamous Section 28 law. “The film shows the power of sticking together and togetherness. When it comes to stuff going on in the world right now, that’s still the only way things are going to change. I’m not saying I have the answer to the madness of the world right now because I don’t, but that film was about the power of community and human beings giving a s*** about each other and that will always be what human beings really want inside. We all just want to feel like someone has got our back.”

It’s this same premise that’s likely made Andor such a success in the Star Wars universe too – not least on how its seen as a subversive reflection of now and the power people have to change things collectively. “All good art comments on what’s going on right now, but also good art is good storytelling,” she explains. “We’re telling a revolution story about good versus evil and of course that will…relate,” Marsay continues. 

In terms of what happens in season two of the highly anticipated return of Andor which landed on Disney on April 22, Marsay can’t reveal much about her character “because a lot of it is sort of interlinked with other storylines and things like that,” she says, not wanting to spoil the entire show – or risk the wrath of the Star Wars powers that be, who are famously secretive. “We leave Val and Cinta at the end of season one in the kind of space that is like the rebellion comes first,” she says. “That’s where we sort of pick-up with them two and we will see Val with Mon [Mothma, who was revealed to be her cousin in season one] again. That’s probably all I can say!”

As for the future, Marsay wants to continue to pursue more groundbreaking roles. “I was always inspired by Goodfellasand films like that,” she smiles, saying it would be a dream to appear in a female-centric gangster film. “It would be cool to have your female Marlon Brando – I mean I’m not saying I have to be in it as Marlon Brando,” she laughs, “but I’d just like to be in it!”

She’s taking time to focus on style too she says, revealing that she dreams of owning a Dior suit as well as a glistening Rolex: she favours watches over jewellery. “I really, really like watches,” she laughs. “I don’t own any of the big names yet, but I would love a Rolex at some point soon. I love their craftsmanship.” 

For now, she says she’s just thrilled to be doing all of this. “It’s not lost on me how unbelievably lucky I’ve been to work consistently,” she smiles. “I just want to be in as many things as I can be and if I’m lucky enough to be given opportunities, I’d just like to crack on and enjoy them. She departs with a gregarious northern goodbye, waving frantically at the screen. “It’s been great to chat with a fellow northerner!” she beams, her Middlesbrough accent shining through. 

Credits

Photographer: David Reiss
Stylist: Anna Hughes Chamberlain
Hair: Stefan Bertin
Makeup: Caroline Barnes
Production: Malcolm Mafara
Cover design: Isabella Papaz
Editor in Chief: Ian Thorley
Deputy Editor: Kim Parker
Features Editor: Joshua Hendren
Online Editor: Elizabeth Aubrey

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