Sophie Cookson Serves Winter AW21’s Best Beauty Looks To Copy For Christmas 2021

“There were a lot of women running the show and we all identified with Christine,” Sophie says. “There was part of us that felt like we’d been Christine at some moment. We haven’t been listened to. We’d been sidelined. We’d been told we weren’t good enough. We were told we were too this, too that. That we didn’t fit in. I felt that by playing her I was giving her voice finally and being on set all day, every day I had to learn to take charge and it really taught me what I have to say is just as important as anyone else.”

“Ever since I’ve been in this industry, it’s always been a very male dominated place to work. I remember being on Kingsman, and being like, ‘wow, I’m literally like the only woman on set today.’ You get used to the only other women being in makeup or costume which I find deeply frustrating but particularly on a set like that, full of fast cars and lots of cool weapons it does lack a bit of the female touch. In those situations bringing a bit of female energy is very good, but they can be overwhelming places if you are the only girl there and it is Mark Wahlberg and you feel like, ‘oh my God, why should I raise my hand and say, excuse me, I think we should do something different,’ but you have to stand your own ground,” Sophie adds referencing her recent blockbuster turn opposite Mark in end of the world thriller, Infinite. “It’s important you go home at the end of the day and feel like, ‘you know what, I did my job because I asked the questions that I wanted to and I did it my way.’”

Away from male dominated sets, Sophie faced a new wave of sexism when she recently became a mother. “I find it really annoying when I’m with my partner and someone will ask him a question rather than me, or particularly in a restaurant setting where they expect the man to pay. That drives me up the wall. I’ve just had a child and I’ve said to a few people that I’ve been back at work and they reply, ‘oh, so you’ve not stayed at home?’ Bloody hell, what century are we in! Some people still struggle to cope with the idea of a woman raising a child and being able to have a career at the same time, which is just unbelievable,” Sophie reveals, reflecting on her latest role as mother to her first child with her partner, fellow actor, Stephen Campbell Moore who she met on the set of Red Joan.

Sophie’s go-to role is rapidly becoming bringing voices to those who are silenced and her next star turn in the ITV costume drama, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is no different. Based on the best selling book by Sarah Collins it follows Frannie who after being born into slavery in a Jamaican plantation travels to the 1880s Mayfair mansion of scientist, George Benham and his wife, Madame Marguerite Benham, played by Sophie. In a dramatic turn the couple are found murdered in their beds and when Frannie is found lying next to Marguerite she is dragged to prison, accused of their murder.