Andrea Riseborough on Matching Wits with Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw in The Pride

Age: 28

Hometown: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England

Currently: Making her off-Broadway debut in an acclaimed dual performance as a pair of strong-minded women (both named Sylvia) alongside Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw in MCC Theatre’s production of The Pride.

Loving Will: Riseborough’s been drawn to drama ever since she can remember. “My sister and I used to go to the cinema with my dad all the time when we were young—anything in black and white,” she recalls. “The smell of popcorn reminds me of my father more than anything else.” She describes her parents as working-class folks who passed their passion for the arts to their daughters. (Younger sister Nora is now a “fucking hilarious” stand-up comic.) By age eight, Riseborough was supplementing film classics with the classics, ripping through the plays of Shakespeare. “I had a T-shirt with [Shakespeare]’s face on it that said ‘Willpower’ and I actually thought it was cool,” she says with a laugh. “It’s quite lonely loving Shakespeare when you’re young!”

From Page to Stage: While brushing up on the Bard, Riseborough began performing children’s roles with a local arts group during the same season the Royal Shakespeare Company came to visit. After her own rehearsals, Riseborough would linger, watching the RSC perform. “It was an amazing wealth of exposure early on,” she says. That exposure drove Riseborough to rack up a resume of 68 plays (semi-professional or in school) by age 16. At 17, however, the budding talent decided she needed a break. She left school early, taking a string of odd jobs while trying to determine what she’d do with her life: “I ended up working at a Chinese restaurant. Finally I said, ‘This is the last duck I will shred here!’ and got an audition. I was at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts two months later.” She graduated in 2005.

Breaking In (and Out): In a unique bit of foreshadowing, Riseborough’s first post-graduate gig was in a London production of A Brief History of Helen of Troy first produced by The Pride’s current NYC home, MCC Theatre. Her breakout came the following year, when she took on two epic roles in repertory under Sir Peter Hall’s direction at the RSC: the title role in Miss Julie and Isabella in Measure for Measure, turns which earned her critical acclaim and an Ian Charleson Award recognizing exceptional performances from British actors under 30. “God bless Peter!” she says of her famous director. “He gave me these parts that [allowed] each little thing I did to [become] a huge thing. I’m so indebted to him.”

Busiest Girl in Show Biz: It’s been non-stop ever since for Riseborough: Named by The Sunday Times a Rising Star in 2009 (alongside future The Pride co-star Hugh Dancy), she’s starred as Margaret Thatcher on TV, traveled to Russia to research her West End debut in Bruce Norris’ The Pain and the Itch (“No easy task when you’re alone and don’t speak the language.”) and co-starred with Kenneth Branagh (“He’s such a giggler!”) in Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Ivanov. She also recently wrapped filming on two upcoming projects, Brighton Rock with Helen Mirren and Never Let Me Go with longtime pal Keira Knightley, both due out in 2010. “I’ve loved literally every [project] I’ve done,” she says. “And looking at what I’ve done, I know I’m lucky.”

Pride Pride: Riseborough is currently wowing NYC audiences as women caught in parallel love triangles with two gay men in 1958 and 2008. “The story is about, literally, ‘know thyself,’ which is so powerful,” she says of The Pride, in which she more than holds her own opposite "lovely" co-stars Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw. She's particularly proud of the timeliness of the piece. “My partner [L.A.-based artist Joe Appel] and I have a life together in California, and it’s unreal that the legislation there won’t allow two men or two women to fulfill what they want in their life. It’s archaic. I love that this play touches on that, and on why you go looking for love in the places you do.” Riseborough also relishes exploring New York, a city she has quickly grown to love. “I finally realized I’m here when I rode the Staten Island Ferry with the commuters," she says. "I do that often. I love to walk through the back streets on the island, where people hang their laundry—the smell of soap and the air. I think I’d like to live on Staten Island. And I’m really not joking.”