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Seeing Anna Friel sit in the doorway of her trailer sneaking a quick cigarette before settling down to enjoy a burrito, it’s clear that rumours of her going “all LA” may be slightly premature. Sure, she’s got herself a house in the Hollywood Hills and has a healthier outlook on life, but despite taking the girl out of Rochdale, it’s obvious Rochdale has yet to be been taken out of the girl.

  “Ooh, I said by the time I’m 30 I’ll have stopped smoking,” says the 31-year-old, taking a final drag. “And I still swear too, though I have to really watch that around poor Gracie. That’s not a good look, to be a swearing mother.”

  Despite hanging on to a handful of old habits, a lot has changed for Anna Friel over the last few years. Motherhood, a new career as the star of award-winning US dramedy Pushing Daisies, and a permanent – for now, at least – move to the States. Plus today we meet on the set of her new movie, the mega-budget remake of Land of the Lost, starring Anna and comedy icon Will Farrell.

  She may be inching closer to global movie-star status, but in a very un-movie-star gesture she lets me hang out alone in her trailer when she’s called to do a scene, even inviting me to help myself to her MacBook to check my email.

  “It might be a little higgledy-piggledy today,” she says as she heads to the sound stage, “So make yourself at home… go through my drawers if you like.”

  Now there’s an offer, and what better way to discover the real Anna Friel, and the five things that help to make her the woman she is today.

 

1. A personal trainer

Taking a sneaky peek into her fridge, it’s surprising to find a shelf-full of Cokes, something her personal trainer has been trying to wean her off.

  “He put a penny in it to show me what it did to put me off of drinking it,” she says.

  A shuffle behind the cokes, however, reveals a healthy – and luminous green – alternative: a freshly made fruit and vegetable juice.

  “I drink a concoction of vegetable juice every day ‘cause I hate eating them,” she says. “There’s a place at the bottom of my street called Real Live Raw, and it’s got dandelion leaf, celery, apple, kale, and broccoli in it. It’s actually quite delicious.”

  Her trainer’s also trying to reduce her salt intake – “he says I eat too much of it and that’s why I feel bloated” – and he’s got her eating healthy portions of fish, rice and salads. Then there are the workouts…

  “He comes Saturdays and Sundays, and then one or two times in the week, and he makes me run, and I hate running,” she says. ”So now we go from my house all the way to the bottom and it’s a good three miles and I can run that, and then a fast walk up with weights in my hands pushing up, looking like a prize idiot.”

  Mixing in a little Pilates, and daily sessions on the Power Plate – “It’s this huge plate that vibrates and you stand on it while you hold yoga poses” – she’s never felt, or looked, better. Not that she’s going to be spending too much time staring in the mirror.

  “I don’t want to know,” she says. “I’m getting to the point where you look and you go, ‘Oh, look at that line coming from my nose’. Plus I don’t think being self-obsessed is a very endearing quality to have.  Just being self-aware and healthy I think is enough.”

2. A supercool look

Along with the super-toned body, Anna’s been working on her style too, hyper aware of the competition.

  “I think you have to be incredibly conscious of the way you look,” she says. “There’s too much competition here, and everybody is ready to jump into your shoes if you don’t look as good as the next.”

  She’s attending an event at the weekend with her Pushing Daises co-stars, so hot design house Marchesa has sent over a rack of dresses, currently crammed next to her trailer’s fridge.

  “They’re designed by Georgina Chapman and she’s the most interesting designer to come along for a while,” she says. “Elie Saab I love, and a designer called Reem Acra too.”

  Although Anna gets a little help from a stylist, her preferred method is to either call a PR company and book a trip to a designer, or have a click through some websites. Then there’s some serious footwork to be done, a lot of it on Third Street in West Hollywood.

  “There are some great stores there,” she says. “Satine, Milk, OK, plus I still love vintage stores, and there are two great ones in LA: Paper Bag Princess and The Way We Wore. Though I think the secret behind any good wardrobe is to have a great tailor. So even if you find a great dress but you think, ‘Oh, it’s a size 14, I can’t wear it,’ take it in. Even if it’s my size I’ll alter the sleeves so they hit exactly where I want on the arm and take the neckline down or take the waist in, so it’s all made to measure.”

  She’s a big fan of jeans too – she owns at least 20 pairs, her current favourites a pair of Tsubis – but has found one downside to looking fashion forward in LA.

  “There’s no Top Shop!” she says. “I’m a massive Top Shopper, and I really miss it. London’s got such great fashion and I still think we lead the way.”

3. Natural talent

Top Shop isn’t the only thing Anna misses from England – “I miss the hustle and bustle of the streets as everything’s so spread out” – but it took making the move to LA to finally shake off her ‘Anna from Brookside’ tag.

  “It maybe took time for me to develop as a woman for people to look at me this way, but I’m getting better roles than I would have done before,” she says.

  In Pushing Daisies she plays a woman brought back to life by the love of her life after a deadly accident, only to stay alive she must never touch him again. Its hyper-real look and edgy themes have won it critical acclaim and many award nominations, but the schedule has been punishing.

  “I heard a story about Hugh Laurie, who films House here, that he just literally left a set, got on a plane and went home because he couldn’t take it,” she says. “I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but I could completely understand it. You have no life, and in no way is that an exaggeration. Monday morning you start at 5am, sometimes I don’t get home until 7 in the morning, and on your Sunday off all you do is sleep.”

  Not that she’s complaining: she talks of “a real sense of pride” at being able to get through the schedule, and enjoys being able to hang out with a couple of ex-pats on the studio lot too.

  “Lena Headley’s filming Terminator here and Sophia Myles is doing Moonlight,” she says, “So we can sometimes meet up for lunch. Plus the Chateau Marmont has become like our local pub where everyone meets, and all the Brits just end up hanging out there drinking margaritas.”

 

4. The big Hollywood house

No Hollywood lifestyle is complete without the fabulous Hollywood home, and Anna has bought herself a four-bedroom house in the hills under the Hollywood sign. It was only after she bought it that partner David Thewlis, best known for his role in the film Naked and as Remus Lupin in Harry Potter, actually got to see it.

  “It was costing me $7000 a month to rent a place, which is ridiculous, so I thought I might as well buy somewhere,” she says. “It was about the 10th house I’d looked at and I walked into it and said, “This is the one.” I had to give an answer by the next day ‘cause there was a bidding war and I called David and I said, “I’ve bought a house.”  He hadn’t seen it, so he came back and he’s like, ‘It’s fantastic.’”

  Her wish list included a nice garden, access to local shops, and something to remind her of home.

  “It was about as British as I could possibly find,” she says. “It’s got a country feel to it, with a big tall ceiling living room, and it’s all craftsman-style. I collect arts and crafts furniture, so I’ve kept a bit of the feeling and the same kind of colours – like rich reds and deep greens and okras – as my place in Windsor.”

  The main differences to her Windsor home? The bright LA sunshine that comes beaming through the windows and the beautiful canyon smells.

  “The whole street smells of jasmine, it’s incredible,” she says. “ I just think it’s the most romantic, beautiful setting, and that’s what fills me with happiness and love.”

5. A famous boyfriend and cute kid

“When you’re a mother, life just changes,” says Anna, and having daughter Gracie – who’ll be three in July – has changed everything for the actress.

  “She’s the most loving child ever,” she says proudly. “Everyone wants to give her kisses and cuddles, ‘cause that’s the best thing you can give a child. I just tell her how beautiful and lovely she is, and how much mommy loves her, and we’ve got this now: I go, ‘guess what?’, and she goes, ‘love you.’”

  Hearing Anna describe Gracie, she sounds like a tiny version of herself. She loves performing, dancing to the Arctic Monkeys and Nirvana and dressing up. One big difference, though: her height.

  “She is the tallest child ever,” she says. “It almost looks comedic ‘cause she’s literally half my size. I’m just petrified ‘cause once she gets to nine she’ll have totally overtaken her 5’ 4-and-a-half-inch mother.”

  Daddy David, at 6’ 2”, clearly passed on the tall gene, and together they’re a striking – if unconventional – family. They each own their own homes – David recently bought a house opposite Anna’s Windsor house, and Anna is restoring yet another home in Majorca – but the pair are very much together.

  “He’s thrilled with my recent success,” she says. “He saw me continually getting crushed and he really believed in me as an actress.”

  Despite their solid relationship, however, they’ve still no plans to get married.

  “It just seems to work as it is right now, and there doesn’t seem any point,” she says. “If he’d have said he wanted to marry me maybe I’d have said yes, but I don’t know if we’re both marriage-phobes.”

  Though their have long-term plans include more kids.

  “Definitely. I’d like another two, probably, but not now, not yet.  I can’t right now – I’m not sure how they’d explain my character on Daisies getting preggers when her leading man can’t actually touch her. What am I – the Virgin Mary?”

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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANNA FRIEL

When I’m working I generally get up at around 5:30. The first thing I do is have a long long shower and shave my armpits and legs. I usually do a face scrub, and then moisturize and do all those things, then choose an outfit and put my make-up on. I have to leave my face free if I go down to the gym, but now I’ve got the Power Plate and a rowing machine in my house.

  On my way to work I pass the Hollywood sign, and it’s still amazing to me that I live right by it. When I’m working on Daisies, Angel, who is my assistant and is an absolute angel, picks me up because it’s far too early, and she brings me to work and takes me home.

  A typical workday is a lot of hours and I don’t really get to sit down.  There’s a lot of rushing around, changing very quickly, and lots of time in hair and makeup. I’ve got naturally curly hair, but they want it really beautifully coiffed.

  Usually I have half-an-hour for lunch and I try to spend it with Gracie who comes to the set a lot. I usually eat proteins and salads: I bring my own dressing and salads and I’ve got a steamer here for steamed fish. I do like to cook – it helps me to chill out.

  If I’m working on the show, it’s usually a 16 to 17 hour day, so I’ll probably finish at 11. I try not to eat too late, ‘cause then I can’t sleep, so I’ll try and eat on-set or have a protein shake or something.  If I get back at 8 or 9 or something, sometimes I’ll go for a run at night.

  In the bedroom Gracie gets in between me and David, and we put the massive TV on - it’s like a cinema - and it’s the comfy-est bed I’ve ever had in my entire life. Then I sleep sleep sleep…