Actress Hannah Waddingham on resilience, late success and finally finding her moment.
For many actors, success arrives early or not at all. For Hannah Waddingham, it came later… and perhaps more meaningfully because of it.
Best known globally for her Emmy-winning role in Ted Lasso, Waddingham has spent years building a career across theatre, television and film. The recognition may feel recent, but the work behind it is anything but.
“I’d been working for such a long time that when things started to change, it didn’t feel like this sudden breakthrough,” she says. “It felt like a continuation of everything that had come before.
“There’s a real gratitude that comes with that, because you know what it’s taken, the near-misses, the auditions that didn’t go your way, the moments where you wondered if it would ever quite land.”
Her roots in musical theatre remain central to her identity, shaping both her discipline and her outlook.
“Theatre teaches you everything about showing up and doing the work, whether you feel like it or not,” she explains. “You learn resilience very quickly, because you’re performing night after night, and there’s no shortcut. That foundation has stayed with me, and I think it’s what allowed me to keep going when things were uncertain.”
That uncertainty, she admits, was a constant companion for much of her career. “There were definitely times when I thought, ‘Is this actually going to happen in the way I’d hoped?’” she says. “But the thing that kept me going was that I genuinely loved it. It wasn’t about chasing fame or recognition; more the work itself, and that has to be enough, otherwise it’s very difficult to sustain.”
Her eventual rise has also challenged assumptions about timing in the industry, offering a refreshing counterpoint to the idea that success must come early.
“I think there’s something incredibly powerful about experience,” she reflects. “You understand yourself more, you trust your instincts, and you’re less interested in trying to fit into something that doesn’t feel right. That gives you a different kind of confidence, one that isn’t dependent on external validation.”
Now, with a global audience and expanding opportunities, Waddingham – whose biggest hits include Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch and the aforementioned Ted Lasso, which is tipped for a return – remains focused on substance over momentum.
“I just want to keep doing work that excites me and challenges me,” she says. “If I feel something when I read a script, that’s usually the sign. And if I can bring something truthful to it, then that’s what matters. Everything else is just noise.”
