‘He was from Salford!’: How Albert Finney became Wunmi Mosaku’s unlikely guiding light
Albert Finney is one of the most celebrated actors in British history, so it makes sense that he’s inspired one of the nation’s most promising rising stars.
When it comes to the greatest British screen legends in history, Finney isn’t brought up nearly enough, probably because he was a cinematic chameleon who could seemingly do anything and had no biases about the types of roles he would pursue. While he could play a terrifying military leader in Under the Volcano or the world’s greatest detective in Murder on the Orient Express, he could also be a kind-hearted mentor in Erin Brokovich or a womanising young member of high society in Tom Jones.
Part of the reason why he is so respected by members of the British acting community is that his career was so long that his work became exposed to fans of multiple generations. Even though he had been acting since the early ‘60s, he continued to appear in films well into the 21st century, and had roles in contemporary franchise sequels like The Bourne Ultimatum and Skyfall, such that nearly everyone who took up acting within the last half-century had a role of Finney’s that resonated with them.
One of these aspiring actors was Wunmi Mosaku, the British star who just picked up the Bafta for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her extraordinary performance in Sinners. While this is her second win of the kind, as she also won in the television category for her performance in Damilola, Our Loved Boy, she admitted that there was a point in her career where she wasn’t sure if acting was what she wanted to do, and Finney had set an example that she decided to strive for.
“My favourite film growing up was Annie, and me and my sister went through all the actors in Annie and googled them all,” Mosaku said, “We saw that Albert Finney was from Salford, which is just outside of Manchester, and that he went to Rada. I applied. We could only afford to apply for one drama school, so I applied for Rada, where Albert Finney went, and I thankfully got in.”
It was by following Finney’s example that Mosaku found a community of actors who supported her and helped her to perfect her craft, and it wasn’t long after graduating that she became a star that people started to take notice of, as it was her performance in the miniseries Moses Jones that first earned her serious accolades.
However, Mosaku said that she never would have gone down that path had it not been for Finney, recounting, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t. I would’ve gone to university, and I probably would’ve been happy, too, but I wasn’t brilliant in maths and economics. I feel inspired by acting and the drama department and stories and the camaraderie.”
It’s interesting that she highlighted Annie as the film of Finney’s that she was inspired by, as it’s one that has had its reputation changed significantly in the years since its release.
While it received nasty reviews at the time of its release in 1982, John Huston’s elaborate musical coming-of-age story certainly resonated with younger viewers, with Finney’s charismatic performance as Daddy Warbucks being one of the chief reasons why, and given that Annie became a guiding light for an actress of Mosaku’s talent, it’s hard to argue that it hasn’t left an outstanding legacy.
