Damian Lewis on controversy surrounding posh actors: 'It's nonsense'

Written by . Published: February 02 2017

Damian Lewis doesn't buy into the notion that privately educated actors have the upper hand in the industry.


The British actor enjoyed a privileged time as a student, first attending boarding school before studying at Eton, whose past pupils include Britain’s Prince William and Eddie Redmayne.


Actors from working class background like James McAvoy and Julie Walters have called out the lack of funding now available for wannabe thespians, but Damian has dismissed the controversy in a chat with Britain's ES Magazine when discussing his “angry list”.


“The flaring up recently of this idea that it was unfair that people from private schools were getting acting jobs — a nonsense!” he stated.


Damian got on to the topic of anger while talking about his own temper. Admitting he can be hot headed, the Homeland star suggested it may be a hangover from his days as a pupil at Ashdown House School.


“There is a latent anger in a lot of people that went to boarding school at an early age,” he sighed. “I was eight and I loved it over the five years. But I think the adjustments for eight-year-olds are a lot. And I think it informs who you are for a long, long time.


“But if you learn a mechanism that early to deal with situations that are foreign to you — trying to find your place within a group — you naturally suppress a lot of your own instincts. And I think exercising that amount of control is very clearly related to outbursts of anger later on," he explained.