Claire Foy has been a household name ever since she took to our screens in 2016 as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown. In the last two years, she’s won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and two SAG Awards — and she’s only just getting started. Next month we’ll see Claire become Lisbeth Salander, also known as the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, but as of right now, she’s Janet Armstrong in La La Land director Damien Chazelle’s First Man.
Claire is a queen both onscreen and off, so when BuzzFeed UK got the chance to chat to her while she was promoting First Man in London recently, we took the opportunity to learn a little bit more about her with a round of rapid-fire questions…
1. Tea or coffee?
Claire Foy: Neither at the moment. I’m caffeine free, unfortunately.
2. Puppies or kittens?
CF: Puppies.
3. What animal are you most similar to?
CF: A killer whale. [laughs]
4. Have you ever been mistaken for another celebrity?
CF: Anna Friel or Felicity Jones, on a regular basis.
5. What was the most exciting element of playing Janet Armstrong in First Man?
CF: Being on set with Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle.
6. What were you most apprehensive about when it came to playing your character?
CF: The accent.
7. What was the most challenging scene to film?
CF: The final scene before Neil leaves to go off on launch. It was a tough, tough all-nighter. It was long, emotional, and very, very tiring.
8. What aspect of Janet’s personality do you relate to most?
CF: Her energy. I think she wants to get the most out of each day, and she’s very resilient. She can shoulder quite a lot of stuff.
9. Where is your favourite place in the world?
CF: Oh, there are too many places. Anywhere with food, people, and beautiful skies and nature.
10. Where is one place you’ve never been to but would love to visit?
CF: India.
11. What is the strangest possession you own?
CF: Oh my god. Strangest? I mean, I own a lemon rinder, which is a bit strange. I never thought I’d have one of those.
12. What’s your favourite pizza topping?
CF: Cheese. Tomato. Basil. [chef’s kiss] Just a margherita. Ugh, god.
13. What’s your drink of choice?
CF: Red wine or a Cosmopolitan.
14. What’s your favourite drunk food?
CF: Pizza.
15. What advice would you give to your younger self?
CF: Just get on with it. [laughs] Just shut up! No more excuses, just get on with it!
16. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
CF: As long as it’s true, and it’s from you, it’ll be new.
17. What’s the craziest fan encounter you’ve ever had?
CF: I don’t think I’ve had anything that crazy, really. I was coming out of an eye hospital, and someone shouted at me as I was getting in a cab, saying that I was the reason they moved to the United Kingdom. I had iodine running down my face and could barely see. But that was strange because of me, not because of them. They were lovely.
18. Have you ever freaked out about meeting a celebrity?
CF: Tina Fey was quite special. And I love Sarah Paulson.
19. Who is one actor you’d love to work with, but haven’t yet?
CF: Oh my god, all of them. I think Javier Bardem’s amazing. I’d love to work with Javier Bardem.
Laura Gallant / BuzzFeed
20. What’s your signature dance move?
CF: Flailing.
21. Do you have a secret talent, and if so, what is it?
CF: I can Irish dance. Not well.
22. What’s the most challenging role you’ve ever played?
CF: I played Lady Macbeth, and that was quite challenging. Scottish, Shakespeare, on stage. Lots of difficult elements. Lots of blood.
23. What’s the most fun you’ve ever had playing a role?
CF: I did a film with Steven Soderbergh last summer, which was just so much fun, because I just got to run around and scream. And The Crown was fun, but that’s just because of Matt Smith.
24. Who’s one real-life person you’d love to play in a movie?
CF: My nan.
25. If you could use any of your past characters’ quotes as a life motto, what would it be?
CF: I don’t think I’ve ever had a line that sort of embodies life, but in The Crown I had a line which was, “That’s the thing about happiness — all it takes is for something worse to come along, and you realise it was actually happiness after all.” Which is quite true. Good old Peter Morgan.
26. What’s your biggest pet peeve?
CF: People not being nice to each other. People being mean-spirited and thinking the worst of people. Especially when they’re driving. Or when they’re walking down the street. Or just anybody thinking everyone’s out to get them.
27. What’s the one thing you’re most afraid of?
CF: Death. [laughs] Just the big one.
28. Who was the last person you texted?
CF: My friend Lucy.
29. What’s your most-used emoji?
CF: The heart. Definitely the heart. If that even counts as an emoji.
30. What TV show have you been watching recently?
CF: I’ve just started Maniac. I’m very excited, I love Emma Stone. It’s great times.
31. What was the last song that was stuck in your head?
CF: Oh, god. “Low” by Flo Rida.
32. What’s your go-to karaoke song?
CF: Foreigner. “I Wanna Know What Love Is”.
33. What was the last movie you saw?
CF: Pretty Woman! I watched it on the plane to LA.
34. What movie never fails to make you cry?
CF: Bridges of Madison County.
35. What was the last book you read?
CF: “A Little Life”, which was great.
36. What job would you want to do if you weren’t an actor?
CF: Be a doctor.
37. What’s one thing that’s guaranteed to make you happy?
CF: Food.
38. What is your proudest achievement?
CF: My daughter.
39. What’s one ambition you have yet to accomplish?
CF: To learn French.
40. And finally, what’s one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
CF: I don’t know, you’d have to ask them. I’d probably say something and they’d be like, “No, I’ve always thought that.” [laughs]
Laura Gallant / BuzzFeed