After a stint on Broadway, PATERSON JOSEPH had to work on a building site

Daily Mail​

16 hours ago

Paterson Joseph is best known for appearing in hit TV shows such as Casualty, Vigil, Noughts + Crosses and as Alan Johnson in Peep Show, alongside the big-screen film Wonka, writes York Membery.
The 61-year-old has also written a novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, and a children's book.
Joseph has a 22-year-old son and lives alone in London.
What did your parents teach you about money?
I was one of six children and grew up in a three-bedroom flat in Willesden, north-west London.
My dad, now 91, was a plasterer and my mum, now 89, worked in a biscuit factory. They often had more than one job to help make ends meet. They taught me money could be the source of conflict so having it can be problematic, but not having it is even more so. Therefore being somewhere in the middle financially has always appealed to me.
I just want to know I've got enough if I need something.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
Yes. In the 1990s after spending four months in Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes on Broadway, it took me a while to re-establish myself as an actor back in the UK.
So I worked on a building site for £70 a day until the next job came, but would cut myself doing even the most minor jobs – for a jokey birthday present my pals gave me a hollowed-out DIY manual with a box of plasters inside.
Have you ever been paid silly money?
Not yet. I've appeared in a few Hollywood films made in the UK, but when big-budget US films are shot here they just pay British actors the usual UK pay rate, thus getting us cheaper.
Doing adverts can be a nice earner – but I've turned down a commercial before because I couldn't convince myself I love a coffee machine like a lover!
What was the best year of your financial life
I appeared in 26 episodes of the American sci-fi Timeless from 2016-18, so they were pretty good years. But you have to remember while an actor may get paid £70,000 for a series, that might be their only job that year. Moreover, they've got to hand over around 25 per cent to an agent or manager before paying tax.
The most expensive thing you bought for fun?
I treated myself to a £200 electric ukulele after landing a big role in the BBC comedy-
drama Boat Story (2023) and I still play it every day. I am no George Formby but picking it makes me very happy.
What is your biggest money mistake?
Getting an old Austin Maestro in my 20s.
If you put the AC on it would steam up the windows, and the heating was stuck on 'high' so it was like being in a sauna in winter. Mind you, it always got me from A to B.
Best money decision you have made?
Becoming an actor, even though my first job, in a fringe theatre play in the 1980s, only paid £165 a week.
At the time it seemed big money and I was so chuffed to be 'a working actor'. I've been lucky enough to make a proper living in the industry. It has also opened the doors to writing books and voicing animated characters I'd never have played in a live-action film because I don't resemble them.
Will you pass your money down or spend it all?
My son, 22, is a biochemist so I think he'll do just fine.
But he's a middle-class kid who knows his parents are there to lend a hand. But there was nobody to help me cash-wise if I'd have fallen on my backside – so our mindsets differ.
I'm just glad he's not following me into the crazy acting game.
Do you have a pension?
I pay into a private pension, and will get the state one in due course. But I love what I do, so will keep working until I'm 'retired by the profession', as they say.
Do you own any property?
Yes. I bought my first property, a two-bedroom house in Woking, for £58,000 in 1995.
I then bought a house in Tours with my French ex-wife. After returning alone to the UK in 2016, I bought a lovely garden flat for a six-figure sum in north-west London, close to family and friends.
If you were Chancellor what would you do?
I'd spend money on defending the UK from our enemies. I'd also spend more on educating young people so they're better able to face the financial challenges of the future.
What is your number one financial priority?
Not to die in a poorhouse – hopefully my son will bail me out if that ever happens.