This week we welcome double Oscar nominated, golden globe and BAFTA winning actor Samantha Morton. She is one of the finest actors of her generation, acting since the early 90s, in Hollywood, independent movies and TV. You may know Samantha from the films Emma and Jane Eyre, Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report with Tom Cruise, Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown, Elizabeth the Golden Age and the TV series Harlots and The Walking Dead. This year, she stars in The Whale alongside Brendan Fraser, who is nominated for an academy award and The Serpent Queen, in which she stars as Catherine DeMedici, has a second series. 

Samantha was born in Nottingham and taken into care as a baby, being moved around foster homes and children's homes until she was 16, with a spell of being homeless in her early teens. She suffered abuse, both sexual and physical and was in trouble with the police. As a successful actor, she is passionate about working to highlight the issues within the care system in the UK. Her directorial debut, The Unloved was inspired by her story and the stories of other girls she met in care. It won a BAFTA for Best Single Drama and even led to her working with the labour government around child care at the time. 

Last year, Samantha starred in the film She Said as an ex assistant to Harvey Weinstein about the New York journalists who broke the story on Weinstein being a sexual predator. It’s a full circle role given that Samantha was one of the few young actors to publicly speak up about Weinstein’s bullying behaviour way before the Me Too movement began. She speaks here about some of the behaviour she experienced as a young actor. But what are the changes that Samantha feels have defined her own life? Annie finds out.

Changes is a deaf friendly podcast, transcripts can be accessed here: https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes

Warning: contains descriptions of physical and sexual abuse and inappropriate sexual misconduct on film sets.

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