“They were so mean”: the devastating rejection that crushed Carey Mulligan
Many actors have become the victims of type-casting over the years. Julie Andrews will forever be associated with the carefree nun twirling in an Alpine meadow or the no-nonsense flying nanny. Michael Cera will always be the awkward guy who rarely gets the girl but steals your heart anyway. And Jared Leto will always be the worst part of every movie he appears in.
In the case of Carey Mulligan, however, the type-casting began even before she won a single film role. These days, the actor is known for playing emotionally complex characters in a wide range of genres. Whether she’s a supportive love interest in a brooding thriller like 2011’s Drive or a Dickensian orphan in Bleak House, she conveys depth and strength even when her characters are softly spoken. In the process, she’s earned numerous accolades, including three Academy Award nominations, a Tony nomination for her performance in the 2015 staging of David Hare’s play Skylight, and a Bafta for her portrayal of a teenager in the 1960s who has a romantic relationship with one of her teachers in 2009’s An Education.
But all of this might never have happened if Mulligan hadn’t ignored a major rejection early in her pursuit to become an actor. Speaking to fellow actor and Shame co-star Michael Fassbender in Variety in 2023, Mulligan revealed that when she auditioned for drama school, she was told in painful terms that they would not be accepting her and did not think she had much of a future in film or theatre.
During the conversation, Fassbender mentioned that he had attended the Drama Centre in London. “I auditioned for Drama Centre,” Mulligan interjected. “And how did it go?” Fassbender asked. “They said I should be a children’s television presenter,” she said.
Now, one could argue that it could have been worse. They could have told her that she had a face for radio or simply laughed in her face as soon as she’d completed a dramatic monologue. But as rejections for young actors dreaming of a career on stage and screen go, this one stung.
“They were so mean,” she said. “But I was devastated.”
The most surprising part of this exchange wasn’t that the people in the room thought she would make a great children’s television presenter (she absolutely would) but the revelation later on that she did not get into any of the drama schools she auditioned for. Instead, Mulligan auditioned for the role of Kitty Bennett in Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and worked as an errand runner for Ealing Studios until her career finally took off.
For all that Mulligan might have felt she was missing from a classical education in the dramatic arts, she clearly didn’t need it in order to hone her acting skills and become one of the most respected actors in the business. Now, nearly two decades after her first film role, she has proven that her theatrical talent extends to the stage as well as the screen, and if she did give children’s TV presenting a whirl, she’d probably win an Emmy for it.
