From her ABC series Pushing Daisies, to her notorious status in Britain, Anna Friel is a force to be reckoned with. Anna opens up to WH about her life in L.A., her role as Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, and her stand on today’s obsession with weight.

On Living in LA:
“I love it here. Even the realtors are famous! You get the famous gardener, the famous hairdresser, the best this, the best that. I also love that there’s always someone here who’s a hit more famous, which keeps the paparazzi at bay.”
Her stardom status (gossip coverage) in Windsor versus the US:
“Thank God. It’s fantastic. I don’t have to put on makeup all the time.”

Her role as Chuck, on physical intimacy:
“When you can’t ever touch, it makes you want to do it more. You forget how much it’s a part of communicating. I often think if I could just touch Ned, I could show the audience so much more.”

On her other roles compared to Chuck:
“It’s so clean compared to, say, a play like Closer. Being bubbly, happy, and positive five days a week is more challenging than I expected. I think risky material helps you grow as an actress, which you need if you want longevity. If you’re just the pretty girl, you’re going to have a really short career. A ripe actress like Susan Sarandon or Judi Dench, with lots of layers, is more interesting to me than the young, unripe version.”

Her flawless American accent:
“Thanks. In my car on the way to work, I speak with an American accent and keep it the whole day, even during personal phone calls. I have a voice coach who gives me 30 notes [on how to improve] every day! I wanted the character to have a lot of air in her voice and to he very wide-eyed. I based it a lot on my daughter, Gracie. I wanted my character to be childlike.

On her Daughter:
“Those bright visuals really get her. She likes to come to the set because they’ve built a sweet shop that looks like something from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She takes sweets from all the jars. Her new thing is to say to me ‘Cut, Mummy! Cut!’”

On her “partner” actor David Thewlis:
“Oh no, I always thought I was quite conventional—that I’d get engaged, marry, have a child—but it’s all gone higgledy-piggledy. I think it’s nice we’ve stayed together for the right reasons and not some tangled mess. And he’s never asked, really! No, I’m always saying I don’t need to. I think we’ll wait to do it when Gracie can actually stand up at the wedding and be a part of it.”

On David’s role as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter movies:
“He’s shooting in England right now. He’s also a writer. His novel was recently released in the U.S.; it’s called The Late Hector Kipling. It’s amazing. It’s all about the art world. He’s constantly writing, and he reads, like, five books a week. I’m more social than he, the one with the bouncy energy, and he’s more in his head-everything goes onto his pages. So it’s a nice balance.”

On being a calorie counter:
“No. Look at French women: They eat cheese, drink wine, and they have incredible bodies and skin. I can’t even do that water, water, water thing. I get so bored of it. But I do drink English tea, PG Tips, all day long. Eight cups a day! I also eat three bananas a day, every day. On set, they call me Anna Banana. I’m obsessed. If I’m tired, they make me feel better.”

When the cameras aren’t rolling…
We love the mountains and the sea, and we love to watch movies. People hate watching them with us because we talk and analyze all the way through!