{"id":492086,"date":"2026-01-04T16:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T16:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/492086\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T16:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T16:14:10","slug":"actor-and-writer-paterson-joseph-tilda-swinton-asked-me-a-question-that-changed-everything-that-came-next-paterson-joseph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/492086\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor and writer Paterson Joseph: \u2018Tilda Swinton asked me a question that changed everything that came next\u2019 | Paterson Joseph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paterson Joseph in 1981 and 2025<\/a>Paterson Joseph in 1981 and 2025. Later photograph: P\u00e5l Hansen. Styling: Andie Redman and Charley Taylor. Grooming: Alice Theobald at Arlington Artists using Active Silver and Charlotte Tilbury. Archive image: courtesy of Paterson Joseph<\/p>\n

Born in Willesden, north-west London, in\u00a01964, Paterson Joseph is an actor and writer. A graduate of Lamda, he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving into TV and film, with roles including Alan Johnson in Peep Show and Keaty in The Beach. He published his award-winning debut novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho<\/a>, in 2022. His children\u2019s book, Ten Children Who Changed the World<\/a>, is out now. Joseph\u00a0is a judge for the debut fiction category of the 2025 Nero Book Awards<\/a>. The winners will be announced on 13\u00a0January.<\/p>\n

This was taken by my sister Glenda<\/strong>, who had decided she wanted to get into hair and makeup. She was pulling together a portfolio and used me as a guinea pig, something my sisters had\u00a0done since I was small. I was going\u00a0for that slightly curmudgeonly old man expression, but it came out more like a smirk.<\/p>\n

At 17, I was shy, imaginative and not particularly ambitious. I was working as a chef at the Royal Free hospital. I was not in any way a showman, but I was interested in storytelling. I was always writing, but didn\u2019t dare share my words with the world.<\/p>\n

My childhood was spent in a bog-standard flat above a shop in Kensal Rise. My memories of that time are of a happy, communal living space. It had three bedrooms and there were seven of us for the first 10 years of my life. I had energetic siblings, and I had to avoid getting into any major disputes with the older ones so I wouldn\u2019t get smacked around. As we lived above the High Road, we couldn\u2019t play outside easily, so had to be self-contained and creative. Mum worked in the McVitie\u2019s factory, so there were always a lot of biscuits \u2013 though they were rationed to three each per night.<\/p>\n

I was four-and-a-half <\/strong>when I\u00a0realised the school system wasn\u2019t fair. I went to a predominantly white school, so I already stood out. But on my first day, my teacher sat me down in front of the class and pointed at a picture of a tiger. She asked: \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I knew it was a tiger, but I panicked. I thought it was a trick question, so I said: \u201cA\u00a0lion.\u201d She shut the book. After that, I\u00a0was completely dismissed. I was a small boy, but very much awake to the irrationality of the world.<\/p>\n

The through-line in every character I play is the outward show of control versus the inward panic and scrambling<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I got lucky later on, when I had a teacher from Goa called Mrs Bird. Although I was a shit pupil, she took a\u00a0shine to me. I was cheeky and she quite liked that. We always kept in touch, and when I was in my 40s she told me: \u201cEvery time I wanted to try something new with the kids, the headteacher would say, \u2018Don\u2019t worry\u00a0with the Irish or the Caribbean\u00a0kids \u2013 they\u2019re never going\u00a0to\u00a0amount to anything.\u2019\u201d Essentially\u00a0the poor, working-class kids and sons and daughters of immigrants were overlooked, unless\u00a0they were exceptional.<\/p>\n

My sanctuary became Willesden Green library. I liked all types of books: by the time I was 15, I was reading Guy de Maupassant in translation, Oscar Wilde short stories and the whole awful Forsyte Saga. Plus, lots of Mills & Boon, because my sisters loved them. Harold Robbins was also a favourite, because I was a teenage boy and it was filled with descriptions of sex.<\/p>\n

I auditioned for the National Youth Theatre (NYT) when I was 14. It was the first time I\u2019d come across Shakespeare. When I read The Merchant of Venice, I realised I loved the articulation of his words in my mouth. Sadly, I didn\u2019t get in because of terrible shyness. I was asked: \u201cWhat drew you to the immersion of youth theatre?\u201d by a very nice middle-class person interviewing me. I looked at the ground for about 30 seconds and said, \u201cBecause I like meeting people.\u201d I\u00a0didn\u2019t really mean that, I just didn\u2019t have the confidence to say anything else. Eventually, Glenda taught me how to play the game, to look someone in the eye and have self-belief, even if it\u2019s just pretending.<\/p>\n

When I failed to get into the NYT<\/strong>, <\/strong>I\u00a0auditioned for a place called The Cockpit, in Marylebone. It was the first time I saw people younger than me who were super-confident and at ease with themselves. I thought: \u201cWhatever that is, I\u2019d like some of that.\u201d When I started, I was still mumbling, quiet and reticent. But that place was transformative.<\/p>\n

If that teenager in the photo could see what I became, he would be shocked, confused and mostly pleased<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The through-line in every character I play is the outward show of control versus the inward panic and scrambling. I suspect all people in authority to be flailing underneath, even if they appear to have Donald Trump-levels of confidence. Their inner soul is in a terrible flap, because of the fear they\u2019re going to get caught out. This was definitely the case for Peep Show\u2019s Johnson. The creators were after a character who could be an absolute arse and quite sociopathic \u2013 someone who thinks they\u2019re great but is actually an alcoholic, a failure and a fool. He is a horrible person who I wouldn\u2019t want to spend five minutes with, but I love him.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s a lack of self-esteem, <\/strong>but\u00a0when I got my role in The Beach, I\u00a0didn\u2019t think: \u201cThis is the start of my Hollywood career.\u201d I knew it was a one-off \u2013 which it kind of was, aside from Wonka. I had to be topless, but I was militantly against the idea that as a black actor I had to get ripped and look like a muscle guy, as I considered myself to be an intellectual artist. In the end, it was so hot there was not an ounce of fat left on anybody. Leo [DiCaprio] was really put through it \u2013 he had to work hard to look thin because he was a podgy Italian boy. But he was lovely to hang out with, a\u00a0proper artist who didn\u2019t want to be a Hollywood pretty boy. Tilda Swinton was similarly inspiring. We used to play cards together and have deep conversations. One day, she asked: \u201cIf you were dying, what would you want to be remembered for?\u201d What Tilda was really asking was \u2013 \u201cSo you\u2019re just going to be an actor? What about the storytelling obsession you have?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought for a while and replied: \u201cSomeone who wrote a book or theatre show about black people in Britain before the Windrush.\u201d That chat was the catalyst for everything that came next. I wrote a one-person show<\/a> about Charles Ignatius Sancho, which became the nonfiction book Sancho: An Act of Remembrance. Then, in\u00a0lockdown I wrote my novel. I\u00a0put\u00a0myself in a pressure cooker \u2013 this was the one thing I had to complete before I died.<\/p>\n

Because of my experiences of being written off at school, there was a sense of validation when I got published, but\u00a0not in a vengeful, two-fingers-up-at-the-teachers kind of way. Instead, it\u00a0felt full circle. When I was eight, I\u00a0had a notepad and would write a\u00a0load\u00a0of motivational statements in it, like: \u201cI am a great writer. I am a really\u00a0good friend.\u201d I would read it again and again, as if I was doing my\u00a0lines.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old version of me would\u00a0be amazed that any of those things came true. Back then, the world\u00a0wasn\u2019t offering me anything. \u201cBe quiet, sit down\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s what I\u00a0expected my life to look like. If\u00a0that\u00a0teenager in the photo could see\u00a0what I became, he would be shocked, confused and mostly pleased. In spite of everything, I\u00a0went\u00a0and did it anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paterson Joseph in 1981 and 2025Paterson Joseph in 1981 and 2025. Later photograph: P\u00e5l Hansen. Styling: Andie Redman…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":492087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-492086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115837721998278563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}