Damian Lewis claims he is a 'minority actor' as he went to Eton
Damian Lewis has claimed that he will "always be in a minority" as he attended Eton. In a discussion about diversity in the arts with The Guardian, Lewis argued that the acting industry has not been overtaken by privately-educated actors, and that his schooling makes him a minority on film sets.
"We have to protect against lack of diversity. If theatre, film, TV, dance, opera, ballet are going to remain true art forms, they must be reflective of all society," he said. "But that's a different point from saying that only privately educated actors are becoming dominant in acting, because statistically that's not true. A handful of actors from privileged backgrounds have done well, very well, and of course that's high profile news.
"But whenever I work, wherever I work, as an actor educated at Eton, I'm still always in a minority," he continued. "What is true and always rewarding about the acting profession is that everyone has a similar story about them being in a minority. From whatever background. And that coming into the acting profession is when we all finally find like-minded people."
Lewis, who was educated at the fee-paying Ashdown boarding school before studying at Eton, has previously rubbished the idea that the drama departments and connections formed within private schools gives actors any sort of leg-up in the industry.
"The flaring up recently of this idea that it was unfair that people from private schools were getting acting jobs [is] a nonsense!" he told the Evening Standard.
Major British stars who attended fee-paying schools include Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Kate Winslet, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hardy, Robert Pattinson, Carey Mulligan, Tom Hiddleston, Daniel Radcliffe, Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Dan Stevens, Kate Beckinsale, Rosamund Pike, Cara Delevingne, Rebecca Hall, Tom Hollander, Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke and Lewis's wife Helen McCrory.
Actors including James McAvoy, Charles Dance and Julie Walters have in recent years condemned the lack of access afforded to working-class actors, Walters in particular claiming she wouldn't be successful if she were starting out now.
"People like me wouldn't have been able to go to college today," she told The Guardian in 2015. "I could because I got a full grant. I don't know how you get into it now. Kids write to me all the time and I think: I don't know what to tell you.
"Working-class kids aren't represented. Working-class life is not referred to. It's really sad. I think it means we're going to get loads more middle-class drama. It will be middle-class people playing working-class people, like it used to be."
