Rachel Leskovac |
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We've heard you're soon to become a mum. How do you feel about starting your family?
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My husband and I are very excited to be having our first child together. Being 30, it feels like the right time for us. It's all I think about at the moment - I haven't bought a single Christmas card yet, let alone any presents!
Feeling the baby move is amazing, it just blows my mind to think I'm growing another human being inside of me! Once you start to look pregnant, when your bump keeps getting bigger, that's really enjoyable because you don't just feel fat anymore! We've decided not to find out the sex of the baby because I think it will spoil the big day. The fun part is not knowing what you're going to get, and it will make up for what I can only imagine is going to be an agonising time!
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| Is it true you've also appeared in musicals? And if so, do you miss singing and dancing? |
Yes, it's certainly true. My first big break was landing the lead in Spend Spend Spend, playing Viv Nicholson. In my opinion, it's the most challenging and exciting role a young woman can play in this field.
I really miss singing and dancing - there's no other buzz like it. I'd love to do another musical.
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Taking on a title role in Losing Gemma must have been more challenging than your previous TV outings. Can you tell us a bit about your character?
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Gemma, Gemma, Gemma, oh dear! What's she like? Bless her! I think she's hilarious. It is certainly a challenge to play someone so demanding, spoilt, annoying, selfish and manipulative, but totally loveable at the same time. This is how I'm hoping she'll come across at least!
It was a real challenge playing such a big character on screen. I find you can get away with a lot more on stage and I worry I'll come across as over the top. But everything I did felt right. And Maurice Phillips, the director, was great. He would rein me in if necessary, while at the same time allowing my creative juices to flow freely - a real joint effort which hopefully will pay off! The crew seemed to enjoy it anyway! We had a laugh!
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A lot of the filming was done in India. What will you remember most about your time in that country?
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India will stay with me forever. I'd love to go back and explore more of that beautiful, mysterious, inspiring, heart-breaking, humbling and exciting country. I'll remember the people above everything else. I've never met a nicer bunch.
I had a lot of preconceived ideas about what India would be like - a lot of them quite negative because of my own ignorance. I was proved wrong as soon as I stepped off the plane. I never once felt threatened, and the country has an underlying peace I'd not experienced before.
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What's the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for you?
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We share the same birthday but rarely get to spend them together. I was on tour with Billy Liar and my husband was away working, too. That year I arrived back at our house late one evening to find the living room filled with balloons, banners, a pile of presents and a card. I could hear music playing in the background and when I walked into the kitchen he put Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday To You on repeat.
He'd bought a huge cake and there was a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge. There was even a packet of my favourite pork scratchings - how romantic is that!?
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You're a Yorkshire lass by birth, but what are the things you like and
dislike most about life in London?
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London is a fantastic city, I love the fact that everytime I go into London I discover something new, whether it's a restaurant, a quirky little street or little park I never knew was there. It's so diverse and steeped in history I love it! Of course, I dislike that it's so overcrowded which causes lots of problems from really bad traffic to terrible litter.
Having to dodge bin bags outside restaurants spilling out into the streets is not
fun.
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| You've done your share of work in the theatre - but don't you get nervous when you have to perform live on stage? |
I always get really nervous but I'd be worried if I wasn't - a friend of mine tells me all the good people get nervous because they really care about their work and their performance which I think is true. I bet David Beckham gets nervous - it's only natural. If I didn't get nervous it would suggest to me that I'd not thought about the thousands of people that have spent good money on buying tickets to see a good performance, not to mention the sometimes millions that have been invested in the show - who wouldn't
be nervous then?
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If you had to choose your three most prized possessions, what would they
be?
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My wedding and engagement rings, my house and my ibook
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What has been the high point of your career so far?
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Going to India and filming Losing Gemma along with performing in Spend
Spend Spend - I can't say that one is higher than the other as they are so different!
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If you were offered a role that required you to put on a lot of weight, would you do it?
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They would have to pay me a lot of money and provide a personal trainer afterwards to help me lose it again! Then I would say yes! My only concern would be damaging my long term health.
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If you were to be stranded on a desert island with someone famous, who
would you want it to be and why?
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It would have to be Tom Hanks, because he definitely would know how to survive - have you seen him in Castaway? He's brilliant. We'd be sorted.
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