At the recent London Fashion Week catwalk shows, British actor Golda Rosheuvel struck as regal a presence off screen as her Bridgerton character Queen Charlotte exudes on it.
At SS Daley, she simmered in a feathery sleeved black crepe Huishan Zhang gown (aptly named Reign), sat in the front row alongside Harry Styles, her fringe styled into a Forties quiff.
And belted in a champagne satin trench at Patrick McDowell, with Princess Leia-style plaited bunches, Rosheuvel was every bit as bewitching as the pursed-lipped, steely-stared, bewigged and bejewelled celluloid Queen.
“I wouldn’t say that I wake up every day thinking I’m going to be a fashion icon today, that’s what I’m going to do,” she laughs when asked about becoming the thinking 50-something woman’s inspirational, glamorous pinup girl.
And yet, there she is, gracing the pages of fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Tatler, Vingt Sept and Rose & Ivy, dressed head to toe in avant-garde labels (Roskanda, Molly Goddard, R.L.E., Jacqueline Loekito, Harris Reed) and high fashion (Valentino, Emilio Pucci, Dior and Prada).
“It’s a wonderful day for me when I can get everybody enthused and excited,” she says of opportunities to get dressed up, whether it’s walking the red carpet at the BAFTAs or appearing on Hollywood star Jennifer Hudson’s talk show. “That's the buzz I love – when everyone turns up, everybody's chatting, there's music on and there is a sense of community where everybody is focused on a particular look for a specific project or event.”
This sense of collaboration – and community – resonates throughout Rosheuvel’s life and work. On a recent production in Scotland, filming Sky Original’s family comedy Grow, the actor made the most of playing the lead by setting the bar for how she wanted the cast and crew to work together. “I was like, we have 10 weeks to shoot this movie, let's make every day great, let's celebrate each other, each other's creativity. But when the work has to happen, let's get down and do it.”
Rosheuvel deployed the same enthusiasm two and a half years ago when she and her cousin and chef Tonatiuh (Tona) Erreguin, opened Imma’s (Hebrew for mother), an award-winning artisan bakery in Oxfordshire.
The idea came to them, “as most ideas do, around the dinner table,” says the actor. Rosheuvel was bowled over by Erreguin’s drive to “give an experience to people through something they have every day – the simple act of breaking and sharing bread – so I knew I wanted to get on board this with her.”
With queues already out the door, it’s no surprise the bakery recently won the Plain Sourdough Award in Britain’s Best Loaf Awards. For Erreguin, the recognition proved their hard work had paid off. “We are on the right path, and the only way to keep it going is to do things better than the day before. We want something as affordable as bread to become a whole unique experience.”
‘If we can keep the nation's high streets thriving through small business, we are all better for it and healthier for it’
Generosity and hospitality is something Rosheuvel gleaned from her parents. Her father was a Guyanese Anglican priest, her English mother descended from an upper middle-class London family whose father was headmaster of St Paul’s prep school Colet Court and her uncle the Bishop of Barbados, later Archbishop of Jamaica (Rosheuvel’s brother is a musical composer and producer).
“My mother was a matriarch. She held herself in a certain way,” Rosheuvel says of channeling some of those mannerisms into the vulnerable, irascible but compulsively watchable Queen Charlotte.
“But also, my mother was very based in community. People would come and chat to her about their problems, and I think with my approach with Queen Charlotte was to give her a sense of her status being bigger than herself, because on a smaller scale, that's the connection I have between Charlotte and my mum. I always felt my mum was in service to her community, her family and friends, the orchestra that she played in, and the neighbours that surrounded her. There was always a sense of service.”
This is why Rosheuvel will head up this year’s American Express Shop Small campaign, running for over a decade, which aims to support small businesses by encouraging the nation to back their local high street. “Small businesses for me are like the backbone of the high street,” enthuses Rosheuvel. “That's where the passion and strength lie in a community – if we can keep the nation's high streets thriving through small business, we are all better for it and healthier for it.”
It seems the nation agrees: last year’s Small Business Saturday (which is supported by American Express and held on the first Saturday of December every year) saw £669m spent in small businesses nationwide. There is a new initiative this year called Champion Small for which Rosheuvel will be one of the judges, where until December 7 cardmembers can nominate their favourite small businesses for the chance to win one of 10 business grants worth £10,000 (and cardmembers themselves the chance to £1,000 in statement credit for nominating).
Rosheuvel certainly puts her money where her mouth is. For her marriage last year to writer and playwright Shireen Mula, “our favorite Lebanese takeaway did our catering,” she laughs. “It was nothing fancy but delicious. My brother and I went to collect falafel wraps and mixed mezze after I had said ‘I do’ and we carried it up in plastic bags to the small reception we were having. It was one of the best days of my life, and the food was a part of that.”
Like her passion for supporting rising fashion designers, she agrees that supporting small business ensures we don’t lose the individuality and creativity that is such an integral part of the British spirit. “I’m looking forward to learning about the Champion Small nominees and hearing their stories because with every small business comes a story of obsession in believing you can make something for the community, whether it be jewellery or clothes or bread,” Rosheuvel says. “It's like ‘I have a need to do this, and I'm going to put whatever into it to make it happen’.”
Whatever she next lends her support to, Rosheuvel’s power is now undeniable. Especially considering that Netflix estimates Bridgerton viewers around the world have watched 3.1 billion minutes of the period drama with a twist – based on the American novelist Julia Quinn’s romantic series by the same name.
“One of the reasons why Bridgerton is so loved and so popular is that it is relatable – women are celebrated. We’re not saying women are just one thing. Women are multifaceted. We are complex and messy; we want love, we want passion, and we want beautiful frocks and wigs. And why not?” she says. “I think there's something about Bridgerton that is really modern in its discovery of all of that within a period drama.
While Rosheuvel has forged a boundary-pushing career – she was the first black, gay female actor to play Shakespeare’s Othello at Liverpool’s Everyman in 2018 – “that political element is not the first thing I think about when choosing my roles,” she says. “If I got tangled up in that side of it, I would narrow my capabilities and interests. For me, it's about being open to the storylines and characters that touch me emotionally, and if something connects with me, I jump on it.”
‘One of the reasons why Bridgerton is so loved and so popular is that it is relatable – women are celebrated’
After years of hard graft, popping up in television stalwarts such as Silent Witness, Death in Paradise and The Bill, her newly acquired star power ensures the scope of work coming her way is positive and wide-reaching. She is “very happy and proud” to be in a show that champions diversity and inclusion. “Bridgerton has definitely changed the way we consider television. We're very much conscious casting, allowing those characters to be at the forefront.”
After appearances in films such as Lady Macbeth and as the Fremen housekeeper Shadout Mapes in 2021’s Dune, as well as a guest spot on Doctor Who earlier this year, we will soon be seeing a lot more of Rosheuvel on our screens. She will appear as the fragile mother of Lucien Laviscount’s character Quinn (aka Alfie in Emily in Paris) in the gentle rom-com This Time Next Year on Netflix, as Unexplained Noises in Pixar’s Orion and the Dark, in the forthcoming horror Somewhere in Dreamland as well as the fourth season of Bridgerton which began filming this week.
“I'd love to go back to treading the theatre boards again,” she says. “It is a very different experience to television.” Theatre is about having “an experience, a dialogue for two hours, actors and audience alike, where every night is different and that kind of intimacy is beautiful,” she adds. “Whereas television is very quick, and it is over fast. You do the take, boom, you move on. And I love that as well, because it checks the ego.”
Fashion will continue to play an important role in her storytelling. “Back in the day when I was a struggling student, there were times when I only had £5 in the bank. I didn't know whether I would be able to pay the rent, where the next meal was coming from, but I always made sure that I looked a certain way, in my thrift store finds, that I always represented the empowerment that I felt inside rather than what I was actually going through.”
She wants to collaborate with British fashion designers, especially those up and coming. “I am ‘how can I help? how can I support you? I am your canvas’,” she says. While she is lucky to be inundated with offers by the world’s biggest designers to wear their clothes, she regularly opts for upcoming designers because “for me, there needs to be a purpose to what I wear. There needs to be a sense of community and support.”
“I am a storyteller, I couldn't do anything else,” Rosheuvel says. “I always feel so nourished, fulfilled, with a sense of belonging when I do what I do. And I think that's the same for Tona and her need to break bread with people. I mean, she gets up at four in the morning to go and bake bread. You've got to have a passion for that. It's got to be purposeful.”
For more details about how to nominate your favourite small business for a grant, search Amex Champion Small UK or visit go.amex/championsmall2024
