lucy davis online article archive
 
  
 
 
 
 

Lucy loves La-la land

Ben Falk
26/ 7/2007

LET'S face facts: Lucy Davis will forever be known for playing Dawn in The Office. It's not a bad legacy, but for an actor, getting typecast is hardly what you want.

Which is probably why these days Lucy is doing her interviews in a posh hotel in Hollywood. Luckily, it's a rare rainy day in Los Angeles, which gives proceedings a nice dash of Britishness. Not that the giggly, open and funny star has gone all Yank on us.

"I can't do an American accent to save my life," she laughs. "I've had so many accent lessons and I'm getting better, but I just sound a bit less like Mary Poppins."

Grimacing at the memory, she recalls one particularly embarrassing incident. "When I was first here about three years ago, I went for a part with an American accent. I did the scene and they said, `That's great, can you do it again in an American accent?' And I went, `Yeah, of course'. It was rubbish. I'm quite good at dialects within England, but the American accent is eluding me."

While she may not be speaking with a West Coast twang, Lucy has certainly settled into the American way of life. After leaving England in the wake of The Office's success, she did the audition thing for a while before striking gold in movies like the Garfield sequel and The TV Set alongside David Duchovny.

She also scored a role in the much-hyped new television series from Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (More4, tonight, 10pm) brought Friends' Matthew Perry back to the small screen, alongside Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet. A polarising show about life behind the scenes of a late night comedy programme, Davis plays Lucy Kenwright, a character certain to make a big impression.

"I loved doing this job," she admits. "When I first started, Aaron said he wanted me to play a writer and in the first script I got, I had two lines. And I made the decision to do it because Aaron said he was writing me into later episodes."

As it is, she becomes a pivotal part of the show.

Yet, as anyone who reads celebrity magazines will know, it's not just her professional life that's going swimmingly. Last year, Lucy married British actor Owain Yeoman in a lavish ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral. But for the humble actress, being papped in her wedding frock still came as something of a shock.

Wedding

"Yeah, we were surprised," she recalls. "We had a lot of offers to cover the wedding, or to take us on honeymoon and we'd very kindly turned them down because it wasn't for us at all.

"We'd gone to quite a few lengths to be private, but ironically, we were quite grateful! Everyone was so lovely and so respectful and wrote such lovely things and we flew home on Monday after the wedding and (the paparazzi snaps) were the only photos we had. It was like, `Oh we did look all right!' It was nice."

While they are still waiting to take a honeymoon due to work commitments, Lucy admits she is loving married life.

"Neither Owain or I had ever envisaged getting married," she says. "I never had a dream that I would be in this dress. Then I met Owain and wanted to do that."

Unfortunately, since the wedding, the couple have spent most of their time apart - Lucy filming Studio 60 and her hubby shooting a new Terminator series in New Mexico. ("I've seen his prosthetic head," she reveals, "it's quite bizarre seeing it run over by a truck.") All of which doesn't give them time to think about starting a family.

"One day a family might be taken into consideration, but it's not something we're thinking about at the moment," the 34-year-old says. "We're just happy as we are and want to enjoy some married life first."

Kids

Of course, if the couple remain in Los Angeles, any kids might well have a better American accent than their mother.

"We did say that!" Lucy giggles. "We said if we have a baby we might FedEx it home to my Mum and pick it up when it's 18 so it doesn't go `Mommy'!"

In other words, don't expect The Woman Formerly Known As Dawn back in England soon. She and Owain have bought a house in LA, and although Studio 60 has been cancelled by America's NBC after one series, there are plenty of other projects on the horizon for Lucy.

"Everyone thinks if you come out to Hollywood, you want to be some megastar," she explains. "I care about working, but I care about working on something I love.

"What sometimes people can't grasp is that you're not necessarily here because you want the goody bags and the red carpets," she continues. "Sometimes you just want to have a nice time, live with your husband and your friends.

"I'd love my family to be here. As well as Coronation Street and Marks & Spencer!"

 
 



 


Print Articles
Birmingham Post
Evening Standard
A New Dawn
The Next Big Things
The Independent
We Love Lucy
10 Girlie Seconds with Lucy Davis
LA Home For Lucy

The Wedding of the Year
Daily Mail Engagement Announcement
Office Star Marries at St. Paul's
Office Romance ends in Fairytale Wedding
Lucy of the Office Marries at St. Paul's
The Office Royal Wedding
Lucy's Wedding Aids Kids