Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate
Catherine Tateis an English comedian, actress and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTA Awards. Following the success of The Catherine Tate Show, Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of Doctor Who and later reprised her role, becoming the Doctor's companion for the fourth series in 2008. In 2011, she began a recurring...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth12 May 1968
CityLondon, England
I'm not frightened of a bit of silence.
I'm an incredibly negative person, so any form of success is only ever going to be a relief to me and set my default position back to neutral.
I've realised I need a gnawing, nagging, anxious doubt when I wake at 4 A.M.
By a lot of peoples standards, I lived a very privileged life. I never wanted for attention, I never wanted for material things. In some ways, I was probably spoiled because I never had to share. And I was doted on.
I will absolutely say that whatever job I was asked to do, whatever schedule I was asked to work, it is never going to be as hard as looking after a child.
Although I was a shy child, I was also a bit flamboyant,
Writing comedy is an exposing thing because you're putting yourself on the line with every joke you write, and although you can't second-guess an audience, if you want to be successful, you have to write stuff people like.
By a lot of people's standards, I lived a very privileged life. I never wanted for attention, I never wanted for material things. In some ways, I was probably spoiled because I never had to share. And I was doted on.
That's the poisoned chalice: when you're shy, people assume you're arrogant.
No one got anywhere by being too scared to open their mouth in case nobody laughed.
I used to go red when anybody spoke to me. It's awful because you absolutely cannot control it. If you are a child that blushes, or is shy, the one thing you want in the world is to be the child who comes in and says, 'Hi,' to everyone and goes up and makes friends.
My mum left my dad when I was six months old, so I don't know him at all. I had no male figures in my life, really. I had my godfather, but he's more like a grandfather, so I was quite sheltered. I've never tried to find my father.
There's no game plan when it comes to thinking up new characters; inspiration can come from anything - from a wig I've seen to an expression I've heard someone use.
Don't take criticism personally; take from it what's useful. Apply it and move on to something better.