Nicola Coughlan is having her well-deserved moment. The actor has catapulted into the showbiz foreground with memorable roles in Channel 4’s Derry Girls and Netflix sensation Bridgerton season 1.
But it wasn’t easy getting there and the star has shared an image on Instagram reflecting on just how far she’s come in the past six years, since she was on the breadline, working as a waitress.
She wrote in the caption: “I remember taking it and joking about how bad my hair looked cos I hadn’t been able to afford to get it done in months. During this time I was so desperate to be acting and unsure that I would ever get to. I was really broke and really disheartened.”
She decided to share the photo because she was ‘so deeply grateful’ for all the things that happened to her since she took it, not least starring as Clare Devlin in hit comedy Derry Girls and as Penelope Featherington AKA Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton.
She wrote that she was ‘in constant disbelief at the good fortune I’ve had, the people I worked with, and the people I’m about [to] work with”.
She may be referring to the upcoming historical comedy film Seize Them! In which she will play a revolutionary, Humble Joan, opposite W1A’s Jessica Hynes and Shaun of the Dead's Nick Frost.
She signed off the emotional Instagram post with the encouragement: “Follow your dreams kids”.
It’s a message that has resonated with numerous people, including Suranne Jones, Sharon Rooney, comedian Angela Scanlon and many others who commented on the post.
Nicola also recently revealed she was ‘devastated’ when she had a scheduling conflict with Derry Girls and Bridgerton season 2 and, because the Netflix series had ‘first call’ on her, her role as Clare Devlin in series three of the Irish comedy – due to screen later in 2022 – had to be cut down.
She told the Mirror: “And you know, they had to cut down my role somewhat, which was hard. Really, really hard. But I think, you know, the fans of the show are going to be happy.”
Before Derry Girls premiered in 2018, Nicola revealed she was ‘struggling to make ends meet’.
“The fear of having nothing is still there. I was in debt with student loans, I was working minimum wage and the rent was so high. I only got Derry Girls five years ago so it's not that long since I've been able to go and buy a coffee and not have a panic attack.”
