Tag Archives: middle class

Danny Dyer “I’m Held Back Because I’m Working Class”

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Danny_Dyer_at_Upton_Park,_02_Oct_2010Danny Dyer has spoken out about the classism in the acting industry in an interview with Woman, stating that being working class, and playing working class characters, has held him back.

The Eastenders actor said “You’ve got actors like Benedict Cumberbatch – a great actor, but he’s a posh boy playing posh boys. He does it well, and he doesn’t get mocked for that.

“I play working class people, and I get mocked for it. I’m stereotyped, he’s not. I’ve done plays at the National Theatre, come off stage and gone into the bar and I ain’t got nothing in common with those people.”

He went on: “When it comes to playing the game, I’m rubbish. The middle-class actors are better prepped at working the system, because they’ve got more in common with the decision makers.”

What do you think? Do you agree?

 

 

Famous People Who Didn’t Go To University

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Zac GoldsmithI have a confession to make. I find the whole snobbish going to university thing stupid. If you want to actually study something or be a doctor, then obviously go and reach your potential, but one of the things I find most stupid about social pressure is that everyone should go to university. At least if they want to be middle class.

Tuition fees are now appallingly expensive, and the most annoying thing I found about the recent BBC class calculator is that they still put going to university and owning a home as an indicator of class. Even though people buying homes they could not afford was one of the factors in the recession, and a recent study said that most students would never be able to pay of the debts they had incurred.

I recently saw an interesting meme on Facebook. It said, “Modern education: creating people who are smart enough to accurately repeat what they are told and follow orders.”

You don’t have to agree with me. I know it is a controversial thing to think. However, have a look at just a few of the famous people who did not go to university.

Apple founder Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College.

TV host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres dropped out of the University of New Orleans after one semester.

The creator of Tumblr David Karp never even graduated from high school.

Walt Disney left school at 16 to join the Army. He couldn’t get in because of his age so he joined the Red Cross and left for Europe.

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard but later got an honorary degree.

Paul Thomas Anderson dropped out of NYU film school.

Zac Goldsmith MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston did not go to university, instead deciding to travel the world. He told the Financial Times: “I think university is hugely overrated for most people,” he says, insisting that a wide range of good apprenticeships is more useful than three years of light work and heavy drinking. “I would not encourage my children to go to university.”

Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to work full time on Facebook.

Yoko Ono dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College

Woody Allen was thrown out of New York University after one semester and later dropped out of the City College of New York.

James Cameron studied physics at Fullerton College. He dropped out to become a truck driver.

Thomas Edison left school to work on the railroad at the age of 12.

F. Scott Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton.

Coco Chanel dropped out of school to become a cabaret singer when she was 18.

Whole Foods founder John Mackey dropped out of the University of Texas.

Pablo Picasso dropped out of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

The founder of WordPress Matt Mullenweg dropped out of the University of Houston in 2004.

What do you think? Is going to university important?

Downton Abbey Star: Its Harder For Working Class Actors

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Downton Abbey star Rob James-Collier has said that it is harder for working class actors to make it as they don’t have the “comfort blanket” of wealth. The actor, who plays Thomas the footman in the hit period drama, said the early years of acting are like any other profession with the middle-class and privileged the only ones who can afford to work for free.

 

He said:

“You have to work for a year with no money. How on earth are you going to finance that?” he asked and said he had found it hard to make it as a “working class lad”.

The acting industry is full of Oxbridge graduates and people who went to Public School. These include Thandie Newton, Alexander Armstrong, David Mitchell, Olivia Williams, Sophie Winkleman, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hardy, Dominic West, Henry Cavill, Freddie Fox, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sophie Okonedo, Colin Firth, Helen Bonham-Carter, James Purefoy, Tom Hiddleston and Damien Lewis to name a few.

James-Collier, was raised in Stockport and he told the Radio Times that the acting industry favours the wealthy. He worked in manual labour jobs to fund his acting dream.

“Because you’ve done the horrible jobs it gives you an even grittier determination to succeed,” he said.

“If I had a comfort blanket, I wouldn’t have been as passionate and driven. When you get there, you really do appreciate it because you know where you have been.”

He also said that his mother had been supportive and that his father had allowed him to try his luck.

Join the debate, do you think working class actors have it worse? Do you think the acting industry favours the rich? Have your say.