Actor Stephen Mangan says losing his mother to cancer when she was 45 radically altered the course of his life, finally inspiring him to pursue the career he wanted. And he says he 'hid' for three years after losing his mum.
Speaking to Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast, the Green Wing and Postman Pat actor explained what inspired him to pursue a career in showbusiness after he completed a law degree.
He said: "I left university in May or June and my mum got ill in early September. I'd gotten this law degree, but I wasn't intending to be a lawyer. I didn't really know what I want, I wanted to be an actor, but it was just so far out of my family experience and the people I knew.
"Mum died six months later and when you watch your mum go from an incredibly healthy, active 45-year-old and watch her decline in six months and then die, it's a profound and very, very vivid demonstration of how fragile we are and how little time we're alive. I think I had my audition for [Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts] maybe a week after she died, I applied a few weeks before she passed and just thought, this is I want to do."
He added: "I did three years at [Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts] and I think part of the reason that was good and useful for me was not only was I doing what I wanted to do, but I could hide from the world for three years because I was really grieving and my whole life was thrown into chaos. […] It was a little cocoon that I could hide in while I tried to process what had happened to my mum."
The actor also lost his father to cancer when he died of a brain tumour aged 63.
At the start of this year, Mangan took on a new role presenting the Sunday afternoon 4pm slot on Classic FM.
Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.
