Amanda Ryan: Life of Ryan

Amanda Ryan’s work takes her from Albert Square to the Chatsworth Estate, but the actress feels most at home in Brockley, finds Anwar Brett

Above: Amanda Ryan, the Brockley-based TV and film actress

An actor’s life inevitably means they must follow the work, filming far from home and playing in theatres up and down the land. But you feel this itinerant lifestyle has one major drawback for Shameless star Amanda Ryan, so in love is she with her home in Brockley.

Having been raised in the area, going to school at Haberdasher’s Aske’s Hatcham College in New Cross and then to Catford for her A levels, Ryan’s adult life has seen her move all around the capital.

"I’ve lived in Notting Hill, Bow, Highgate, Paddington and Tufnell Park," she says. "I’ve been to every other area, but I came back to live with my parents for a bit when I was house hunting. I thought I was going to buy in north London but in my absence south London had become extremely green and leafy.

"My mum and I happened to drive past an estate agent and saw a house in the window which was the one I bought. It was that simple. I had to wait six months before the actual sale went through. It was a long, drawn out process, but I was absolutely sure this was the house I wanted to be in. It’s in such a peaceful street, I love it."

Such is Ryan’s affection for her south London home that she has used a local accent for the character she plays in Shameless, policewoman Carrie. Not that Carrie is a particularly good advert for the area.

"She’s a nutter," Ryans laughs, "it’s a very big stretch for me, obviously. She’s very scary, she has anger issues, losing her temper and behaving totally inappropriately for a police officer, with extreme violence. Not verbally – she absolutely hates it and never swears – whereas every other character in the programme does.

"But I wanted her to come from a very particular place, so I went and recorded my brother’s girlfriend, who comes from Woolwich. Her son laughed and said, ‘Why d’ya wanna talk like that then?’ doing an impression of her. I don’t know whether she’ll be thrilled or annoyed about it, but I can – and have – phoned her and specifically asked how she would say something."

Television audiences – of which incidentally Ryan is not one, not even owning a set – would also have seen her in Eastenders earlier in the year, playing the character of Verity.

"My relatives were kind of impressed with that," she sighs. "I have a goddaughter, she’s 9 and she asked if I could be her godparent, which is lovely. She asked me the other day, ‘What’s it like being famous?’ I’m so not, but because I’ve been in Eastenders she thought I must be."

Ryan’s film credits include The Woodlanders, Elizabeth, in which she played one of Queen Mary’s ladies in waiting, and the recent Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter romantic-drama Sparkle. This last is a particular favourite of Ryan’s, in large part due to the workshop process through which the character was developed, giving her input and a degree of ownership on the finished thing.

"I’ve had some really lovely experiences," she nods, "but in terms of the size of the part that I had and the level of involvement I had in the project it feels like my ideal job."

With some actors you get a distinct impression that they would commit a capital crime to get ahead in the business. But Amanda Ryan seems totally different, a frank and funny conversationalist with plenty of things going on in her life beyond her career. She might be as ambitious as the next actor, but getting the work-life balance right is a more pressing priority.

Currently unattached – "single, and looking for the man of my dreams," she sighs – her commitment to her local community is strong. So when Labour Party canvassers came calling during the last election they may have been surprised to find this Brockley resident with a passionate interest in the area she was living in.

"Joan Ruddock was our MP," Ryan recalls, "and she put a note through the door during the campaign saying if we wanted to speak to her or one of her team then we should put this leaflet up in the window. So I did. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to ask but I thought I wanted to know what it was about, why they were doing this, what we could say.

"I didn’t even think too deeply about it, I just thought I wanted to do that, to have a voice. They knocked on my door and I invited them in. I think they were expecting me to have an issue with this or that, but I was asking them questions. I asked about the recycling of plastic, because we had recycling of glass, paper and tin cans but no plastic. I said that was ridiculous.

"The other thing I wanted to know was why we didn’t have trees in our street when all the other streets did. They were great, they sent me a follow up email, then I heard nothing for a while. One morning a little while later I came out of my house to see these guys planting trees in our street. It felt like a really magical thing and I’m so excited every time I walk past them still. They all blossomed as well. I asked the guy planting them how long it would take and he said it would probably be several years but it was the very year they were put in."

A keen champion of her district, Ryan cites Toad’s Mouth Too, Life Café in Ladywell and Bar Equal in Honor Oak Park as favourite haunts. It’s a far cry from the grim, concreted nihilism of the hugely popular Shameless, but such pride in where she lives tells you all you need to know about Amanda Ryan. "This is the thing in life," she smiles, "you never know the difference you’re going to make. It’s always worth taking a stand, because you don’t know what the outcome will be and you never know where the ripples will end."