Dame Kristin Scott Thomas: I was told my acting was ‘rubbish’

Dame Kristin Scott Thomas was once told she was a "rubbish" actress whilst at drama school.
The 57-year-old actress is a BAFTA and Olivier award-winning star, but despite her impressive filmography – which includes ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘The English Patient’, and ‘Mission: Impossible’ – she has admitted she was once told to "forget" her dreams of becoming a star.
She revealed: "I was told ‘Forget it, you’re rubbish’ by a teacher at drama school. It was upsetting because I’d dreamt of doing this all my life. I moved to France to act because I thought they wouldn’t notice how rubbish I was in a different language.
"Before my role in ‘A Handful of Dust’, my first job was in a drama called ‘The Investigations Of Commissioner Maigret’. I was the second hairdresser, and I still get 25 euros a year in royalties. People would say ‘You should make movies’. I thought, ‘God, no, I don’t want to make movies, I want to be on the stage. I want to be a proper actress’."
And although Kristin’s acting skills are far from "rubbish", she does insist that her performance in 1986’s ‘Under The Cherry Moon’ – which was directed by and starred the late musician Prince – was "appalling".
Speaking about her experience on the movie set, she said: "Prince’s ‘Under The Cherry Moon’ was my first proper film. My acting was appalling. To work with a living god in music was extraordinary. He fired the director after two weeks, rang me in the middle of the night and said ‘Hello, Mary has been fired, I’m now going to be the director.’ What can you say?"
Despite not putting in her best performance in the production, Kristin – who has daughter Hannah, 29, and sons Joseph, 26, and George, 17, with her ex-husband François Olivennes – revealed she remained good friends with the late ‘Purple Rain’ hitmaker.
Speaking to Notebook magazine about her bond with the star – who passed away in 2016 – she said: "Prince gave me my first proper film and I will never forget that. He remained a loyal supporter. He came to see me in ‘The Seagull’ and he loved my movie ‘I’ve Loved You So Long’ and wrote a song about it."