'Midwifery was my in' says Hamnet actress

An actress who featured in the Oscar-tipped film Hamnet said her training as a midwife had helped her win roles.

Laura Guest never practised, describing herself as "too emotionally invested" for the job.

Instead, the performer from West Runton, Norfolk, worked in an office before deciding to take acting more seriously when she turned 40.

What followed were roles in big-budget productions such as A Moment In Time, Gangs of London and Bridgerton.

Guest said she spent years working for North Norfolk District Council, which was where she rediscovered her childhood passion for acting.

"I played the genie in Aladdin and that's when I was like, 'this is what I've been missing'."

Stage roles at the Sheringham Little Theatre followed before a decision to try to make acting her profession.

After taking a course in method acting and getting an agent in London, she started getting cast.

"I've been absolutely blessed. I've only done big-budget.

"I've been working with people at the top of their game... I've been a child in the sweet shop."

Guest starred as a midwife in A Moment In Time alongside Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.

"Florence was lovely, Andrew was especially lovely.

"He really made me feel like I belonged there."

Guest also plays a midwife alongside Jessie Buckley in Hamnet, directed by Chloe Zhao.

"It was, it was a very unique experience and unique set.

"Chloe's very collaborative and she's very respectful that we all bring what we bring to the table and and I loved that.

"It was just the one day filming, but I was on set for about three or four days more in different scenes, where I just oversaw it a bit from a midwifery angle."

On Buckley's recent award success, Guest said deserved "every single one".

Guest has just finished filming her own short, Daydreaming, shot at her old school, Sheringham High, and in the village of West Runton.

She praised the talent available to filmmakers in Norfolk, both on screen and behind it, including Epic Broadcast, based in Norwich.

"They literally said 'what's your budget, Laura, and we will try and work with you'."

Sheringham High School said in a post on social media that its students were "very lucky" to get the chance to see a professional film being made.

Daydreaming is now in post-production and Guest is looking for a distributor.

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