Hollyoaks star Isabelle Smith has called out ‘elitism’ in acting as Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy visited the show’s set in Childwall, Liverpool.
The actor, who plays Frankie Osborne in the Channel 4 soap, said acting is “hard enough for a working-class female” for a woman (per Press Association).
After graduating from drama school, Smith admitted she was “unsure” what her steps into acting would be, adding: “It’s not very easy to get a job… especially in an arts industry.”
“I was fortunate enough to land this [acting] job, but now I’m in a position where most of my money goes to pay off my maintenance loan and my student loan, and that comes with a very high level of interest that is placed on top of the extortionate amount of money that I already owe,” she continued.
“There’s no grants really in place any more, the scholarship scheme is very underfunded, and I just think it’s already hard enough for a working-class female to get into this industry, as the first person in my family to go into an arts industry, and then you have this added cost weighing over your head.”
The soap star said there was a “misconception” that actors earn a lot of money and that it is an “elitist industry”, saying that the government should support “working-class [actors] just a little bit more.”
She added: “People have paid to go to private school, or to RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) whatever. You’re constantly having to prove yourself into every room that you’re going into because you’ve maybe not had the same education as other people that you are sat next to.
“If we just made it a little bit more accessible, I think people would be astounded at the difference that it actually makes.”
Nandy’s visit comes as she launches the National Youth Strategy survey, which aims to “support services, facilities and opportunities they need outside the school gates to benefit their lives”, according to the government website.
Responding to Smith’s concerns, she said: “I really love that I was thinking when you were talking that you’re so recognisable [to] your generation.
“And it would be great if we could do, not just a programme of government support for working-class young people to be able to break into the arts.
“But we could also run a campaign on it, with people like you fronting it up to say, ‘Look, you can do this, and actually, you don’t have to struggle as much as you did, because there’s support available for it’.”
