It’s actually her most obvious role to date, but despite all her successes, Daisy Edgar-Jones says Normal People is still the most satisfying job of her career.
Normal People, a twelve-part film adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel, became a huge success after its release in 2020, making then-unknown Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal household names.
Released while the UK was in strict lockdown, the series followed the lives of love-stricken Irish teenagers Marianne Sheridan and Connor Waldren and their emotionally charged, faltering relationship.
Looking back on what turned out to be a breakthrough role, 26-year-old Edgar-Jones admits Marianne still casts a large shadow over her career, despite spending much of her time on big-budget Hollywood productions.
“It’s still Normal People that I’m known for,” she said The culture of the time magazine. ‘It meant a lot to people and a lot to me.’
It’s actually her most straightforward role to date, but despite all her subsequent success, Daisy Edgar-Jones says Normal People remains the most satisfying job of her career
The actress rose to fame in just 12 episodes in 2020 when the BBC Three adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel hit the screens (Paul and Daisy appear in the show)
She added: ‘I feel 100 percent spoiled by Normal People. If you could sum up my ideal role, world, filmmaker, writer, it had it all.
“In every career you get jobs that are truly magical and yeah, you go back and look for that feeling. It’s hard to top that.”
The actress is currently promoting Twisters, a spectacular disaster film starring former Mad Men actress Kiernan Shipka and Glen Powell.
With its glossy Hollywood sheen and no-expense-spared CGI effects, it’s a far cry from her TV debut as Olivia, the teenage daughter of David and Karen Marsden, in the ITV drama Cold Feet, a role she played while she was doing her A-levels in real life.
“I never would have thought that,” she said of her career path. “I come from Cold Feet.”
She added: ‘I just really wanted to work, in whatever way I could. I wanted to do theatre, but the goal was really to get a job.’
The actress remains good friends with Mescal, 28, whose career has only gone from strength to strength since Normal People.
In a new interview with Variety, Edgar-Jones admits that her former co-star, who is currently prepping for the role of a lifetime in Gladiator II, is one of her “best friends in life.”
She said: ‘He’s an incredibly down-to-earth person and I think I am too, so it’s nice to have those points of reference and people you can laugh about it with and be lighthearted with.
The actress is currently promoting Twisters, a spectacular disaster film starring former Mad Men actress Kiernan Shipka and Glen Powell
Normal People, a 12-part film adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, became an overnight success and made Edgar-Jones and Mescal household names.
‘We met when I was 20 and Paul was 22. I’m so excited to see where we’ll be when we’re 32 or 42 and what life will bring us.’
In May, the pair apologized for “stringing people along” after cryptically posting that they had “news to share.”
Many fans of the BBC show assumed that a second season would be announced soon, but they have now confirmed that they will not be returning to the screen, much to the disappointment of many.
Instead, the former co-stars revealed they were surprised when they instead hosted a marathon screening of the first season of Normal People to raise money for Unicef and suicide prevention charity Pieta.
The actress remains good friends with Mescal, whose own career has only gone from strength to strength since Normal People. (Pictured together at Glastonbury Festival last month)
In May, the couple apologized for “misleading people” after cryptically posting that they had “news to share” – the prom led to speculation that it could be a second season of Normal People