Claudia Jessie, the Birmingham-born actor known for playing Eloise Bridgerton in Netflix’s global hit series, has spoken about her surprise at landing the role, her working-class roots, and the challenges actors from similar backgrounds face. Now 34, Jessie credits a working-class casting editor, Cole Edwards, for helping her break into a world she never expected to enter. “I got a job and a fella on the same day,” she said, referring to Edwards, who later became her partner.
Jessie, who grew up on a houseboat in Birmingham and on a council estate in north London, said her childhood was hard. “Dad was off, Mum worked as a cleaner. It was just difficult,” she explained. Despite the struggles, she described herself as “the happiest I’ve ever been”, adding that her life has “unequivocally, been a lot better than I thought it would be.” Her path to acting included early roles in WPC 56, Vanity Fair, Line of Duty and Doctor Who before Bridgerton made her internationally famous.
Playing Eloise, a protofeminist cynic in the Regency-era drama, required learning period etiquette, but Jessie admitted she rejected much of it. “Eloise unsubscribes from all that. If you’re just sitting around with your family, you’re going to slouch on the sofa,” she said. She also reflected on the rarity of working-class actors playing upper-class characters. “When I get interviewed, I am often asked if I’d like to live in the Bridgerton world,” Jessie noted, “and I have to remind them that if I did I’d be staff.”
Despite her success, Jessie remains anxious about her performances. “I was absolutely petrified to step on set – I still get nervous. Even going back for season three, I thought I was going to be shit, that they were going to fire me,” she said. The third season of Bridgerton, in which she continues to star, is set to air soon.
