Natasha Little is known for being inscrutable. The star of This Life and Vanity Fair has gained a reputation for saying, well, little, when it comes to her private life. And for being somewhat enigmatic.
Natasha Little with Ross Kemp in the ITV drama The Crooked Man.
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Today, however, Natasha is not particularly shy - although her personal life is still out of bounds. Perhaps it's because she's tired and suffering with a cough and cold, so her defences are down. Or perhaps it's because she's just been caught out telling a little white lie. Previously, when asked about her home life, Natasha had admitted to an unnamed boyfriend, a cat (called Sylvia), fish (called Red) and canary (called Sweetie). Now, however, she admits she made the fish and canary up completely. "I'm so embarrassed to say this," says Natasha, with a slightly shamefaced giggle. "I do have a cat, and she's weird enough. But I was put on the spot when someone asked me what I would rescue from my house in the case of a fire and when I said my cat, they told me it had to be three things." In other words, the fish and the canary were invented. "It just became one of those things you say," explains Natasha, still laughing. "And then it goes into print and is printed for ever more. Now I sound like a compulsive liar." So what about the other things she sometimes mentions. Does the boyfriend exist? The shutters temporarily come down. She's determined to keep her personal life personal. "I wouldn't feel comfortable talking to someone I didn't know very well and, beyond that person, a readership of X millions, about things I think are private," she says. "I'm really not trying to be mysterious. I know some people are really comfortable with talking about their feelings and hopes and fears in public, but I'm not, and I don't think it's that extraordinary." The 34-year-old is much happier concentrating on her work. She will be on screen tomorrow night in ITV1's one-off drama, The Crooked Man, starring Ross Kemp as a secret service agent who investigates cases where Special Branch tactics would be too obvious. Natasha plays Kemp's neighbour and love interest, Lisa Talbot, a woman who, while trying to defend her sister from domestic violence, accidentally kills her brother-in-law. Natasha, who says she likes to mix her television and film work with acting on stage, has often been cast as complex, manipulative women; the sort of parts that engender little sympathy in viewers. When her character, the conniving lawyer Rachel, was punched in the face in This Life, the nation cheered (her comeuppance was voted 37th most memorable TV scene ever in a Channel 4 poll); as the ruthless Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair (for which she won Best Actress in a Series at the 1999 Biarritz International Television Festival) viewers loved and loathed her in equal measure; and as the scheming harridan with a heart in the BBC's adaptation of Tony Parson's Man and Boy, she was the ultimate panto villain. Why does she keep being cast in these sort of roles? "I don't know," says Natasha. "Perhaps people saw that in a couple of things I've done and that's the first thing that springs to mind. But it doesn't bother me at all. I've enjoyed all the work I've done and I feel quite lucky that I haven't been playing sweet girls all the time." Sweet girls might not have found themselves smoking 40 cigarettes a day. Natasha officially stopped smoking five years ago, but sometimes finds herself with an urge to light up again. "I have had relapses, but I'm still not a smoker," she says defiantly. "I do have the occasional cigarette though." Smoking aside, Natasha does not appear to have many vices. She's not much of a drinker nor a secret chocoholic. However, she might be something of a perfectionist. "I've never, ever done a piece of work - and can't imagine doing a piece of work - when I've thought, `I was pretty perfect in that.' "You can finish the day's filming, or the whole shoot, or watch something months later and think you could have done it so much better. It's frustrating." Natasha, who left London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1994 and has barely been out of work since, didn't set out to be an actress. "My family weren't actors and we didn't know any actors," she says. "It wasn't even something I was aware you could do as a job. I thought you had to be a Redgrave before you were allowed to go to drama school." In fact, she spent her childhood travelling round the Middle East while her father installed immunisation clinics. "By the time I was 10 we'd lived in 11 different places - Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar
"Looking back, it seems idyllic. I remember going to the beach in the afternoon and swimming in sheikhs' private pools." The family eventually settled in Essex. An only child, she insists she was never lonely and she threw herself into her schoolwork. When she was 15 her parents divorced and Natasha moved in with her mother. She doesn't recall it being a particularly traumatic time on her part. "I don't want to be dismissive about divorce," she says, "but it was as smooth as those things can be. It didn't create a huge schism in my life." The blow could also have been cushioned by the fact that she'd discovered acting. She graduated from school plays to Saturday drama workshops and was accepted at Guildhall, despite disappointing exam results. "Acting was a slow-burn thing. I found it was something I really, really liked doing, but it wasn't until my third year at drama school that I actually thought, `Oh right, I'm trained for this now, I'd better see if I can do it'." Her progress has been steady and sure, if not without the odd disappointment. She's suffered the standard major throwback; accepting the lead role in the World War two film Enigma only to have it rescinded when Kate Winslet suddenly announced her availability. Not that Natasha says she felt too bad about that. She regards full-on stardom as a decidedly mixed blessing. "I'm happy with where I am right now
"There's no First Law of Acting that says you always have to keep going for bigger and better jobs. My ambition is the same as it was when I was at drama school - to earn a living doing what I love. It's the work that interests me, those better-than-sex-or-drugs moments where you feel you're really giving your all, rather than any red-carpet celebrity. "I find the idea of being a 'celebrity' faintly ridiculous. But then, I have a life outside of acting. It doesn't consume my entire existence." | 
