Long may she reign - how Olivia Colman went from playing the fool to ruling the TV world

As her slightly bonkers Oscars acceptance speech captured, Olivia Colman’s success was often pigeonholed and she wasn’t seen as the A-list star she’s become.

Having shocked the world — particularly frontrunner Glenn Close — with her surprise Best Actress win at the Oscars, Olivia Colman is poised and ready to continue conquering Hollywood and beyond.

While the trained primary school teacher may have appeared to some — herself included — as the left-field choice by Academy Award voters, The Favourite star has defied expectations and carved out a career of solid TV and film credits — flagging for her formidable talent every step of the way.

From early appearances in The Office and Doctor Who, to her breakout role in the acclaimed murder mystery series, Broadchurch, the 45-year-old has packed a lot into her 20-year-old acting life.

But as her slightly bonkers acceptance speech captured, Colman’s success was often pigeonholed as the character actor — the foil or fool, not the A-list star she’s become.

Olivia Colman plays Madame Thernardier in the BBC First production of Les Miserables. Picture: Robert Viglasky/BBC First.

Playing the isolated and indulged Queen Anne in The Favourite was a regal turn like no other; from her lesbian sex scenes with co-stars Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, to the costuming which normally makes these royal biopic productions.

Ever the jester, Colman plants her tongue firmly in her cheek when she describes the hardship the movie was to make, alongside her cover girl co-stars.

“It looked harder than it was,” she tells News Corp Australia.

“Emma and Rachel had to wear corsets, but I was lucky that I wore a big nightie most of the time. And walking with a limp was quite easy for me because I actually twisted my ankle, so I had a real limp, so that worked out quite nicely.”

Forced to gain 35 pound for the part? A tough job but someone had to do it, she laughs.

“Oh, I love eating! It was fabulous and actually very liberating.”

Jokes aside, she admits the lesbian romps were a little more awkward.

“I find any scenes like that incredibly embarrassing but because we had a rehearsal process, we had all become such good friends that we giggled our way through it,” she explains.

“And it was no hardship kissing Rachel Weisz but it would have been much harder if we didn’t have that time. It would have been, ‘How do you do?’ and then hands up the skirt,” she says, laughing uproariously.

Olivia Colman in the film The Favourite.

The other twist to the tale — central to Melissa McCarthy’s hilarious presenting skit on Oscars night — were the fluffy bunnies Queen Anne kept in her bed chamber as pets.

“I really did love those bloody rabbits,” she offers, referring to the 17 bunnies which represented the 17 babies the Monarch either miscarried or were born dead.

“We all played with them a lot.”

How the Norwich-born came to play act for a living was a dream the young woman, born Sarah Caroline Olivia Colman, ever thought possible.

Her mother, a nurse and her father, a chartered surveyor, thought it a more “sensible job” to follow her teacher training, rather than her drama study that followed at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

At the time, they said, ‘I suppose you’ll give it a year,’ but I said, ‘No, I’m going to give it 10 or 20 years. Acting is all I can do. I’m so rubbish at everything else, and I wouldn’t have made a great teacher’,” she admits, adding “I think they’re all right with it now.”

Rather than playing for laughs, her next role — as innkeeper, Madame Thenardier in the BBC First adaptation of Victor Hugo’s literary classic, Les Miserables — which brings her back to the small screen at her dramatic best.

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth in Netflix series The Crown.

“She is deeply unpleasant in every way,” Colman smiles.

“It’s a gripping story with an age old appeal. I can imagine myself not wanting to turn off and wanting to watch the next episode.”

The six-part series is directed by Tom Shankland (The Missing) and written by Andrew Davies (House of Cards), with an impressive ensemble including Dominic West (The Affair), David Oyelowo (The Butler) and Lily Collins (Rules Don’t Apply).

But it is her next royal assignment — taking the sceptre from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in season three of The Crown — which will draw the most scrutiny.

And for Colman, one of her greatest challenges.

“It’s harder to play the current queen for me because she doesn’t emote. Queen Anne was easier because she was allowed to feel things very deeply. With Queen Elizabeth, because she’d been told she had to be everybody’s rock, she has to be strong for everybody else, I find that difficult.”

Taking on the role in the acclaimed Netflix series has taught her much about the House of Windsor and its “boss.”

Best Actress nominee for "The Favourite" Olivia Colman accepts the award for Best Actress during the 91st Annual Academy Awards. Picture: AFP

“The more I learn about our current queen, the more I’m impressed by her as a human being. She took a vow as a very young woman to do her job very well and she has done. And there aren’t many people from their 20s to their 90s who have stuck to their guns like that.”

Recalling the moment when she met the Queen, Colman is typically self-deprecating.

“I accidentally met her at a British Film Institute reception at Windsor. I just thought it would be film people meeting up and having a chat but then we ended up in a queue around the corner, and there was the Queen and Prince Phillip.

“I went, ‘Oh shit!’” she laughs. “So then this man with epaulets came up to me and said, ‘Don’t overdo it. Just a little bow and then go very quickly.” ‘

She pauses: “well, I didn’t cover myself in glory. I did it quite badly, did it all wrong. So it wasn’t a meeting so much as a shaking of the hand and a bugger-off.”

Asked whether she’s nervous about playing a queen who can judge her performance if she chooses to watch (which she apparently does) and Colman mock grimaces.

“Yeah, thanks for that!” she laughs. “Well, I hope she doesn’t watch it. There must have been so many things she’s seen of herself, she’d probably rather watch gobbledygook,” she adds.

“But look, I hope we’re doing a noble piece. It’s respectful and the history they go through is so interesting. If she’s watching, I hope she’s not going, ‘Oh God!’ I hope I’m doing her proud.”

As for how she’s dealing with her own ascension to super stardom, Colman is happy to just to stay at home with actor/writer husband Ed Sinclair, their three children and two dogs.

“The thing is, I love my job but I hate everything else that comes with it. And that won’t change. I will keep my head down and stay home as much as possible, like I’ve always done.”

* Les Miserables airs 8.30pm, Sunday March 10 on Foxel’s BBC First.

Originally published as Long may she reign - how Olivia Colman went from playing the fool to ruling the TV world