11 February 2024 , 16:53
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Coronation Street legend Angela Griffin has revealed an insight into her career.
The star got her big break in the ITV soap more than 30 years ago. Since then the 47-year-old actress has gone on to have starring roles in Holby City, Cutting It, Down to Earth and Harlots, among others, and she recently returned to BBC’s Waterloo Road as headteacher Kim Campbell. But despite her success, Angela has revealed she kept her job at Burger King for the first year she appeared in Corrie, which she landed as a fresh-faced 16-year-old within months after doing her GCSEs.
In her breakout role as hairdresser Fiona Middleton, which she played for six years until 1998, Angela shared she would “do Corrie and four shifts at Burger King, while at college and also seeing this boy”. Though this sounds like a lot, she said she “hasn’t really stopped since” as her “brain needs four things going on at once”.
Angela in her breakout role in Coronation Street which she landed at 16 (ITV)Now back on Waterloo Road, where she is also working on the drama as a director, Angela is currently doing an Open University degree in psychology. On top of that, she is married to actor husband of 20 years Jason Milligan, with whom she shares teenage daughters Tallulah, 19, and 16-year-old Melissa.
Citing mum Sheila as her biggest inspiration, she told The Big Issue magazine: “My brain needs four things going on at once. That’s why directing Waterloo Road is so satisfying – you have to be thinking about so many things at once... so yeah, I keep busy. And I’ve tried to pass on the work ethic I got from my mum to my kids.”
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Growing up on a council estate in Leeds, Angela recalled experiencing racism from a young age and said the things said to her in the playground “would be so shocking today”. But though acting was a “middle-class kind of job”, she didn’t let anything hold her back regarding her career.
Angela has gone on to star in Holby City, Cutting It, Harlots and Waterloo Road (PA)She revealed: “My mum never let me know that, and I’m so grateful. When I said I wanted to be an actor, she just said, ‘OK, let’s find out how you do it’ – because of course we didn’t know the way into the industry or that it was so hard. It’s even harder now. The obstacles have actually grown, which is mind-blowing.”
Asked what advice she would give to her younger self, Angela said: “I’d like my 16-year-old self to have a word with me. She was fearless. She was driven. And even though she was judged, very vocally, by lots of people, she didn’t let it stop her. I spun everything into a positive – if they thought I was different, well yes, I will be different. I’m going to capitalise on the fact. I can tread my own path. So my younger self should have a word with my 47-year-old self to remind her to be brave and have the courage of youth. I liked my younger self. She worked hard and had a good laugh.”