Helen McCrory

Actress, Mum and Philanthropist
Categories Interviews Penny Dreadful Print Media

Helen McCrory enjoying her ‘golden period’

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Mysterious Madame Kali in Penny Dreadful

By Luaine Lee | April 22, 2015 | Tribune News Service

Her father was a Scottish diplomat whose job sent his family to places such as Cameroon, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Paris.

“Every culture and every generation is different, and that’s fascinating to me. And I think that part of my love for acting is also the research of it. I love researching all,” she said.

Though McCrory spent most of her career on the London stage, people know her as Narcissa Malfoy from three of the “Harry Potter” films, from “Skyfall,” “Hugo” and soon from Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful,” which returns May 3.

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Categories A Little Chaos Bill Interviews Print Media

A Little Chaos: Helen McCrory talks teaming up with Harry Potter co-star Alan Rickman

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After dwelling in the dark side of Peaky Blinders and Harry Potter, Helen McCrory is ready to shine in Alan Rickman’s court of the Sun King

A Little Chaos: Helen McCrory talks teaming up with Harry Potter co-star Alan Rickman

“My dad’s got a Glaswegian accent,” she says, which is something of a surprise. She nods in agreement. “I sound like I come from Suffolk!” she adds, pronouncing it ‘Suff-auk’ – for emphasis – as if she were schooled at Eton.

She continues, keeping the oh-so-posh voice on for comedy effect. “People are like, ‘Oh, hello, where do you come from?’ And I say, ‘I come from West Africa, actually!’ But you can’t tell.”

Confused? Well, that’s just what it’s like meeting McCrory, a mistress of the deadpan, who is as entertaining off-screen as she is on. Her father is indeed from Glasgow, a former diplomat whose own father was a welder.

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Categories A Little Chaos Damian Lewis Interviews Print Media

Helen McCrory interview: on motherhood, Damian Lewis and what makes her mad

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Helen McCrory talks about Celtic grit, her strict approach to parenting, and her equally sought-after husband

By Chloe Fox |
“There’s a whole generation of children growing up who don’t seem able to express themselves.” CREDIT: Photo: Kate Davis MacLeod

“As far as I can remember, I have never slept with Alan Rickman…” Helen McCrory is so deft a master at the art of the deadpan that it can be quite unsettling. We are having a late breakfast, and discussing how she came to accept the role of the evil Madame Le Nôtre in A Little Chaos, a romantic drama centred on the court of Louis XIV, which Rickman both directs and stars in. Unflinchingly serious, with one pencil-thin dark eyebrow raised, McCrory takes a slow sip of her coffee before allowing a glimmer of a smirk to give the game away.

While they have never been involved romantically on screen or otherwise, she and Rickman – both giants of the British theatre scene – have had a long-running friendship, cemented by the Harry Potter franchise (she played Narcissa Malfoy in three of the eight films in which he starred as Severus Snape). “I was absolutely thrilled when he sent me the script and asked me to come and play,” she says of A Little Chaos.

Continue reading Helen McCrory interview: on motherhood, Damian Lewis and what makes her mad