Maxine Peake ‘at peace' with life and ‘embracing it' after ‘difficult' time
The actress turned 50 last year, and is known for her work on the TV shows Shameless, dinnerladies and Silk.
She revealed that it had been "difficult" turning 40, but has now come to terms with getting older.
In an interview with The Guardian, she said: "Well, on my next birthday in two weeks, I'll be 51.
"I'm at peace with the fact that I'm middle-aged now. I'm embracing it. Turning 40 was more difficult. Now I think: 'I'm still here', and that can't be looked upon lightly."
Peake was born in Bolton and was asked if her northern accent had impacted her career in a positive or negative way.
She shared: "They do call a group of actors a 'moan' of actors. We like to have a good moan.
"When people hear a regional accent, they immediately make assumptions about your class, financial status and education.
"People generally think if you've got a strong regional accent, you can't do much else.
"Obviously there are amazing actors like Jodie Comer who smash that to pieces because people don't realise she's from Liverpool. But because I came out the traps with the northern accent it's probably helped."
Outside of her TV work Peake has appeared in a number of films, including the Mike Leigh historical drama Peterloo, which was about the massacre of the same name.
Speaking about the opportunity to work with him, she said: "I wrote to Mike when I was at drama school, where I did my showcase with Sally Hawkins, a two-hander of the April De Angelis play, Playhouse Creatures.
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"I said: 'We should write to Mike Leigh.' She said: 'Are you sure?' I said: 'We'll do a joint letter.' So we wrote to him and we got a call in, and the rest is history.
"He's brilliant. He loves actors. He has such a specific way of rehearsing and character development, but he's so thorough and – I don't know whether he'd like me saying – humble.
"There are no airs and graces about him. He's so passionate about what he does, and I just love the fact that he loves actors."
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