Frieling fabulous

With her grown-up serious actor boyfriend, a Hollywood career taking off fast and top celebrity mates like Dustin Hoffman, things have never been better for Anna Friel. The one-time Brookside actress tells Phil Tusler about her new A-list life.

It may not be the most conventional of showbiz arrangements, but the stunning Anna Friel reckons she’s found the recipe for a perfect romance.

It’s not so long ago that the talented actress was despairing of finding Mr Right following doomed relationships with Darren Day, who very publicly dumped her for Tracy Shaw, and singer Robbie Williams. Then, two years ago, she met actor David Thewlis – serious, artistic and considered one of the most talented actors around – and her whole life seems to have gone from strength to strength ever since.

David may not be quite the sort of drop-dead gorgeous, leading man material that Anna, on screen this week in ITV’s drama Watermelon, has fallen for in the past. Indeed, he’s best known for keeping out of the limelight and his brooding dedication to playing serious roles in films like Naked and Seven Years In Tibet.

But Anna,26, is adamant that she has found the rock in her life that’s previously been missing. “Things are just fantastic right now. David’s a lovely guy and we’re having a great time together,” she says, sipping a glass of wine. “I’ve calmed down a lot since being with David. We met each other’s parents a week after going out together. So it must be serious mustn’t it ?”

“We first met at the Cannes Film Festival, then got together again after a dinner party at a close friend’s hose. We’re both Northerners and enjoy staying in more than going out so we’ve got a lot on common. He’s my love and my life”.

But it’s not wedding bells just yet. Anna’s got a place in Windsor and David’s pad is in Clerkenwell, London. “We flit between the two – that way we get the best of both worlds. So we’re happy with the way things are, but if we do get married you’ll be the first to know”, she says, laughing.

Even a desire for children, which Anna has often expressed, now looks as though it’s on hold until her 30s. “I keep moving goalposts, I know. But the time isn’t right yet, I’m only 26”.

While filming the TV drama Watermelon, though, Anna admits she did get a little broody. Based on Marian Keyes’ best-selling chick-lit novel, she plays a young woman who falls pregnant while juggling two boyfriends. “I got to work with this beautiful baby”, recalls Anna. “She was gorgeous and never cried or complained once. If they were all like that I’d have 10”.

While it’s normally hard to ruffle Anna’s feathers, just mention screen nudity and she sighs with frustration. There was the eight-second lesbian kiss in Brookside, a full-frontal nude scene in the BBC drama The Tribe and several sexy stage roles. Now, in Watermelon, Anna goes topless in a watery romp with her co-star Jamie Draven. “Please don’t go on about it”, she pleads. “I get very embarrassed about seeing myself like that on screen”.

After her Brookside success, Anna did a series of British dramas, including Our Mutual Friend. She’s starred in Broadway and London’s West End and lately she's been making a name for herself on the other side of the Atlantic with films such as Rogue Trader, Mad Cows and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

After turning down a part in The Mummy which looking back “was probably a big mistake”, she landed a role in Gangs of New York, only for it to be snatched away from her and given to Cameron Diaz.

Finally she’s moving closer to following in the footsteps of Kate Winslet by starring in the big-budget Hollywood summer release Timeline. She also counts celeb A-listers Dustin Hoffman, Billy Connolly and Jack Nicholson as good friends.

“I first met Dustin three years ago, when I was in New York. I met them all! Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman, Al Pacino, Tom Cruise and Madonna.”

“Then I bumped into Dustin again at the BAFTAs and me and David became really close friends with him. We hang out a lot and he’s a wonderful man. He’s even been for tea with my parents.”

But despite her new A-list life, Anna still remains refreshingly in awe of fame. “People say that I’m now really successful, but I still don’t feel as though I fit in quite yet. When I’m in LA I get invited to all the great parties, but I feel like a freeloader, like I’m just there for the free drinks”.

In fact, sometimes, Anna feels older than her years – a fact not lost on her family and friends. “Its funny you should say that”, she muses, “because my 23-year-old brother is always going on at me, saying that I sound like I’m 36, not someone who’s 10 years younger. It’s true I do spend a lot of time with people older than me, and since being with David I’m much more politically aware.”

She and David are against the war in Iraq. They marched in London on February 15, along with friends and family.

“I don’t want to become a spokesman about this,” she says, “but I feel worried and very ill-informed by the Government, so it really bothers me. I’m also anti-GM food, and I eat organically and that kind of thing. But I hope I’m still quite light-hearted and girly when I want to be”.

That said, she giggles, flicks a rogue hair out of her eye and polishes off her glass of wine before heading off home with bags of shopping.