As Lady Edith, Laura Carmichael has been through a lot in six seasons of Downton Abbey.
Especially at the beginning of the story about the noble Crawley family and their staff, misfortune follows them constantly, including bad luck in the love and ridicule of their two sisters.
The series ended in 2015. Since Thursday, the second feature film has been in cinemas: "Downton Abbey II: A New Era".
Appropriately for the occasion, we have an appointment for the interview with Laura Carmichael in a posh hotel in London's Whitehall district.
Of course we drink tea.
Many Downton Abbey fans get teary-eyed just hearing the theme song.
I don't think there are many series or films where you burst into tears just by looking at a house in the opening sequence.
And I'm no different than the fans.
When I see Highclere Castle, which then becomes Downton in the story, it makes me sob.
For me, it's always really emotional and perhaps even more emotional than for my colleagues.
Because this role completely changed my life.
Lady Edith was the first real role of her career. You described your time before that as extremely difficult. How do you look back on this period of your life today?
With today's distance, I'm actually very grateful for this time.
Also because every new job as an actress still feels like a miracle to me.
If it had been easier, I might not appreciate it so much.
After my three years at drama school, I was unemployed as an actress for almost three years.
I lived in London and had no money.
At the same time, there were many problems in my personal life.
But at that time I grew enormously.
And in many ways I learned more for my job there than at drama school – experiences that I can now use for roles.
Today I live very privileged.
But success and money are not everything in life.
It may sound banal, but you have to experience it yourself to really understand it.
What do you find silly about it?
Well, we travel around, dress up and pretend to be different people.
Sometimes I find the job to be superficial.
But during the pandemic I thought again how badly we need good series and films.
We have never needed Downton Abbey more urgently than during the pandemic.
Yes or?
I don't want to say that acting is an important contributor because that would sound pretentious.
But it's not unimportant either.
I hope that people feel our film like a hug from good old acquaintances, especially in these times.
In this crazy world, with all the problems we face, we can really use them.
Because in "Downton" we see people who may be wrong at times, but try from the bottom of their hearts to do the right thing.
What was your plan B if acting didn't work out?
I don't know what I would have done.
I worked as a teaching assistant for a while, but learned that I wasn't patient enough.
Teachers work really hard, I respect them a lot.
But I was unfit for the job, I'm afraid.
I also had a job as a receptionist at a doctor's office.
Which subject?
It was a general practice in Kensington.
I wasn't particularly good at that either, because you had to be extremely organized.
And that's not one of my strengths.
But that's the problem with unemployed actors: you go to job interviews with a certain self-confidence and you can fake competence.
But in daily practice, they find out very quickly that you were just bluffing.