Zawe Ashton on What She Has in Common with Betrayal Playwright Harold Pinter and Her Undying Love for Will Smith

Zawe Ashton has been acting for the screen and stage in the U.K. since she was six years old. She has appearred in popular TV shows like Fresh Meat and Not Safe for Work, and now she is in the acclaimed West End transfer of Harold Pinter's Betrayal at Broadway's Jacobs Theatre. Ashton stars alongside fellow Londoners Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox, both known for their turns as comic superheroes, the intimate play marks all three headliners Broadway debuts. In honor of her move to the Great White Way, Ashton sat down with Broadway.com to talk about her first time on stage, the importance of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and what dessert is better in the States than the U.K.

A Pinter Village
Ashton is a born-and-raised Londoner who is a self-proclaimed city girl, but her hometown gave her the comfort of a small village. "I grew up in Hackney and like so many places in London and here in New York, It was an incredibly artistic and diverse community," she said. "It was an education in art and people and family and friendships. Our neighborhood was shaped like a village, no subways or commuters. If you cut me open I bleed East London. I actually grew up around the corner from where Harold Pinter did. If you want a snapshot of my childhood, me and Pinter, we essentially grew up together."

Early Betrayal
Ashton's first introduction to theater was at the age of six, when she went to an after-school drama class at the Anisha Theatre in London. "The first stage play I ever did was a school play called The Wishing Chair," she said. "I was cast as the fisherman's wife, and she had a very key scene; I was very determined to do the role justice at seven years old. Well, I got the flu and was out of school for weeks and when I came back, another girl had been cast as the fisherman's wife. I was then cast as the chair, but that's the title role so we all know who got the last laugh on that one."

The Degree's the Thing
After years of having real-life experience on TV shows and on stage, Ashton had a tough decision to make: continue to work or go to drama school? "I knew that I had to train as an actor when I was 19," she said. "I'd already seen a cycle of roles that were coming my way. I was playing very specific type of edgy characters that I loved but it had the potential to turn into stereotyping. I knew I musn't go and get my degree because I was scared of being typecast, but I also musn't not get my degree because I'm scared of losing momentum. I decided to train and and go to drama school, and it was a very transformative period of time for me as a young person."

Fresh Prince of London
Ashton cites her personal relationships as the main source of inspiration, but there is one important exception. "If there's one person I looked up to obsessively, it was Will Smith," she said. "There wasn't anyone who looked like me on TV in England. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was my touchstone. We didn't have families of color in them or young people of color doing flagrant, wonderful, funny things and being so successful they were household names. I've idolized Will Smith my whole life and that hasn't changed. He's my number one."

Bright Lights, Big City
Although she has appeared in several productions in the West End, Ashton can't believe she's on Broadway. "This is a dream come true for all of us, Tom [Hiddleston], Charlie [Cox] and Eddie Arnold," she said. "It means the world to us to be making our debuts. I've been to New York so many times, but I've never worked here this way. There's something so epic when you're from the U.K. about the bright lights of Broadway. I have to say, it doesn't disappoint. We've all brought something so personal to this process and to have it be rewarded in this way is amazing. There's nothing like it. It's something we'll never forget."

Just Desserts
When she's not bringing audiences to their feet in Betrayal, Ashton is busy exploring what living in New York City has to offer. "I would say since being in New York, donuts have fast become a guilty pleasure," she said. "I don't know what you guys are putting them in them here to make them even more squishy and big. We need to work on our donuts in the U.K. because they're not satisfying enough."

Watch Zawe Ashton in action below!

Photos by Caitlin McNaney | Video directed and edited by Kyle Gaskell