Hannah Waddingham Keeps a ‘Little List’ of People Who Blocked Her Career

Hannah Waddingham wants nothing to do with the people who rejected her as she tried to break into movies and TV.

The Ted Lasso star, 49, revealed on the April 21 episode of the podcast Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist that she keeps a mental roster of names.

“Yes, there is a little list of people who wouldn’t give me the time of day but now want to work together,” Waddingham said. “And I am happy to say to them: ‘Please look somewhere else. I’m human. I remember. Bog off.’”

Waddingham won an Emmy Award in 2021 for her breakout role playing AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton on Ted Lasso. The Apple TV+ comedy ran from 2020 to 2023 and co-starred Jason Sudeikis, Juno Temple, Phil Dunster and Brett Goldstein.

This year, Waddingham made a transition to movies with a role opposite Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in The Fall Guy and voicing a character in the animated The Garfield Movie. The London-born actor will also appear in the upcoming Mission: Impossible 8 alongside Tom Cruise.

While her Hollywood career has taken off, the road to screen stardom was not easy. Earlier this year, she recalled to the BBC podcast, Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers,“I had one drama teacher that said to the whole class: ‘Oh, Hannah will never work on screen because she looks like one side of her face has had a stroke.’’” Motivated to prove this teacher wrong, she thought, “Come hell or high water, I will work on screen.”

Waddingham, a theater veteran, graced the stages of Broadway and London’s West End, earning acclaim for her work in Spamalot and A Little Night Music, among other shows. At the same time, she made minor appearances on TV.

“It got to the point where I realized I was only getting one scene in this, or one ep[isode] in that,” she said. “And I went, do you know what? I think I’ve done enough. … This isn’t cool any more. Why should I be constantly feeding into someone else’s storyline?”

She told her agents, “If it’s one scene, I’m not doing it any more, and you shouldn’t be putting me up for it because it’s insulting. I’ve been a leading lady for 22 years. I’m not doing it any more. I’d rather be in a world where I’m appreciated.”

When she stepped back, she was cast as Septua Unella in seasons five and six of the HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones.

Waddingham has no problem standing up for herself these days. In April, she scolded a photographer who told her to “show leg” as she posed outside the Olivier Awards in London.

“Oh my god, you’d never say that to a man,” she said. “Don’t be a dick otherwise I’ll move off. Don’t say ‘show me leg.’ No.”