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Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside Billie Piper's career resurgence as she lands string of lucrative new roles including surprise Doctor Who return - three decades after bursting onto the scene as a singer
It's been three decades since Billie Piper burst onto the showbiz scene with her hit single Because We Want To. As a fresh-faced 15 year old, she had the world at her feet, with the talented teen tipped for mega stardom after becoming the youngest artist to debut at number one. Having pivoted to acting, Billie then enjoyed a string of high-profile roles, including spots on Doctor Who, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Penny Dreadful. Yet in the 2010s, Billie's work commitments took a backseat to her personal life as she split from right-wing political activist Laurence Fox broke down and went on to welcome a daughter with Tribes frontman Johnny Lloyd. Now, with Billie, 42, confirmed to be returning to Doctor Who, her career is looking brighter than ever, with a string of lucrative new roles in the pipeline. The actress is now estimated to have a net worth of £9 million, Celebrity Net Worth reports. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The turning point came in 2020, with the release of her critically acclaimed Sky series, I Hate Suzie. The Swindon-born star was lauded for her brooding portrayal of former popstar Suzie Pickles, who has her life thrown into disarray when intimate photos of her in a compromising position with a man who isn't her husband, are leaked online. Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 95 percent, while Billie received a TV BAFTA nomination for her work in both the first season and follow-up I Hate Suzie Too. However, despite going down a treat with critics, it failed to draw in a big enough audience, and it was not renewed for a third season. Speaking to the Mail about the show's cancellation, Billie mused: 'It just didn't get a big enough audience - that's the way it goes. 'People in television loved it, because I guess it is largely about the world in which they work, but it wasn't seen by as many people beyond that world as we would like it to have been.' Yet Billie didn't suffer the same problem with her next role, landing a lead part in the 2024 Netflix drama Scoop, a dramatic retelling of the process of securing and filming the 2019 Prince Andrew interview with Newsnight. The series was praised by viewers and critics alike, with a whopping 2.75 million households tuning in for the first week alone. Billie also secured another TV BAFTA nomination for her role as Newsnight producer Sam McAlister. That same year, she starred in another Netflix series, Kaos - a contemporary re-imagining of Greek mythology - where she played prophetess Cassandra. The eight-episode series also starred Jeff Goldblum and Janet McTeer and received good reviews. Fans were left crushed when the series was not renewed, with Kaos ultimately becoming the most-watched cancelled series in the second half of 2024. Yet Billie had no time to mourn the end of the show as she was thrust into work on Netflix megahit Wednesday. The mother-of-two has landed a role as Isadora Capri, Nevermor Academy's new head of music. A former child prodigy, Isadora is described as being 'brilliant, intense, and enigmatic.' According to Netflix, she takes a special interest in Wednesday's (Jenna Ortega) musical gifts and becomes a mentor to fellow werewolf Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers). Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 will drop on August 6, with Part 2 following on September 3. Billie will then be kept busy filming for Doctor Who after the jaw-dropping finale saw her unveiled as the next incarnation of the Time Lord. The actress is well-known to longtime Who fans, having previously played The Doctor's companion Rose Tyler, and The Moment interface in the show's 50th Anniversary Special. Ncuti Gatwa became the 15th Doctor in 2023 but during Saturday's episode it appeared that Ncuti's Doctor, had regenerated into Billie, with her first words being: 'Oh hello!' Billie will now be the second woman to take on the role as the Time Lord after Jodie Whittaker portrayed the 13th doctor. However, while her reveal understandably sparked a huge frenzy on social media, others have been quick to spot one key problem with her regeneration, following Ncuti Gatwa's long-speculated exit from the show. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, some fans were quick to note in the episode's closing credits, Billie was not credited as 'The Doctor,' with it instead simply stating: 'Introducing Billie Piper.' Reacting to the news Billie said: 'It's no secret how much I love this show, and I have always said I would love to return to the Whoniverse as I have some of my best memories there, so to be given the opportunity to step back on that Tardis one more time was just something I couldn't refuse.' It is not known when the show will return and Billie's next scenes will air.
Perth Now
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
'I'm a foreigner in my own home': Josh Hartnett's kids mock him for being American
Josh Hartnett's children mock him for "being an American". The 'Fight or Flight' actor - who has four kids, who were born in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2024, with wife Tasmin Egerton - lives in the UK with his family and admitted his brood never miss a chance to poke fun at him for being "a foreigner". He said on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon': "My kids love to give me crap about being an American because I'm the only American in our house. I'm a foreigner in my own home. 'My middle one does a really good impersonation of me, [and] will just kind of turn to me and be like, 'I'm Daddy, and I like pizza and I won't mow the lawn.' As American as it gets." Despite his years in the UK, the 46-year-old actor's children take pleasure in explaining to him the meaning of English words and phrases. He added: "My littlest daughter keeps telling me what it's like to be English. 'She keeps saying to me, 'You might not understand this Daddy, but in England we say boot instead of trunk of a car.' And I'm like, 'I've lived here for longer than you. I made you.'" Josh previously explained he quit Hollywood for the sake of his "sanity". Speaking to his 'O' co-star Julia Stiles for Interview magazine, he explained: "I never really lived in LA. Even when we were making 'O', I was in Minnesota, New York, nowhere, because I was living from set to set. "I drove my car down from Minnesota to shoot 'O' and then drove back after that. But the choice to step back from the industry had more to do with just plain sanity." Josh ultimately feared that fame and success might've led him to becoming detached from his "community". The 'Penny Dreadful' actor also acknowledged that fame didn't give him the "satisfaction" he was seeking at the time. He said: "I wanted to be myself amongst people that I knew, so I was able to revert back to my family and friends in Minnesota. "Also, after a certain amount of time chasing a goal, I realised that achieving these things wasn't giving me back the satisfaction I hoped it would, so I had to find something else to fill that gap. I felt, and still feel, that community is what fills it. "Achievement is great in any walk of life. It's a reason to get up in the morning. But the thing that really holds you is your community. I felt that I was kind of rootless at that time, so I wanted to find that community."
Forbes
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Josh Hartnett Talks Career Priorities And New ‘Fight Or Flight' Movie
For decades, actor Josh Hartnett has taken on a variety of characters for the screen that have consistently drawn in audiences of multiple generations. From the 90s teen horror movie The Faculty to Pearl Harbor, followed by the Penny Dreadful series, Oppenheimer and Trap - just to name a few, Hartnett, 46, began his career as a young Hollywood heartthrob and has blossomed into a refreshingly unconventional leading man, who continues to keep us guessing with the roles that he chooses to take on. In his latest movie, the action comedy Fight or Flight, Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes, a former FBI agent that is offered a chance at redemption with one final job, but he is ultimately faced with countless life-or-death obstacles in pursuit of his mission. With Fight or Flight, which premieres only in theaters this weekend, Hartnett chose to do most of his own stunts throughout the movie's many elaborate combat scenes. Sitting down for a conversation with the seasoned actor, I wondered what initially interested him to want to add fight choreography and these other acting responsibilities to his performance. Hartnett said, 'Well, this was like an opportunity that was unique for me because I haven't done anything in this sort of world where I've had to do my own stunts since I was 29. I did a movie called Bunraku when I was 29. I was 45 when we shot this, so you aren't getting a lot of people sending you scripts being like - Here, this is an opportunity for you to do all your own stunts in a movie. That doesn't happen very often. I was very excited to be able to pull that off, to try it - and the fact that we had such an amazing team of stunt guys and women, and they were able to kind of shepherd me through this whole process and nobody really got seriously hurt. It was an amazing experience.' He went on to say that he would love to do a role like this again, but would prefer a little more time, as he shared that they shot Fight or Flight in 'such a short period of time and it felt like every day I was getting hurt. We just have to go back and do it again the next day. A little bit more recovery time would be nice.' Since joining Christopher Nolan's Best Picture winner Oppenheimer and the praise he received in playing an unsuspecting serial killer in M. Night Shyamalan's Trap, a large group of moviegoers have come to call this era of Hartnett's career 'The Hartnett-aissance' - which he playfully says that the fan-driven term 'rolls off the tongue.' So, what is it about his recent movie projects that he is perhaps enjoying more within his acting and character choices lately? Josh Hartnett in the 2024 movie "Trap" Warner Bros. Pictures 'I will say that working with directors that people are very interested in what they're going to do next helps because then you get an audience built in. I've always been trying to play unique characters in unique style films - things that I haven't done recently or that people haven't seen recently. Now, more people are interested in what I'm doing and I think it comes purely down to the people that I'm working with. These characters are each unique from each other. The next couple of films that I've got coming out are also incredibly unique and in different genres. I just feel so lucky to be able to jump from one style film to another and to be able to work with the caliber of people I've been able to work with recently. It's just luck, you know?' Being someone who has been in the public eye now for more than two decades, I asked the well-known actor - Who is Josh Hartnett in 2025? What brings the biggest passion and purpose to your days? Hartnett said, 'Oh, purpose is family. I've got four kids and I have to be dad way more often than I have to be me as a public figure or actor. That doesn't even enter into the equation most of the time and I only shoot one or two films a year. I spend most of my time with my family and am just dad, and for the most part, being beaten up by my kids. It's the thing that drives me but it's also the thing that gives me the most satisfaction. So, when I'm going to work, I want to make sure that it's worth it. I don't choose things, unless I really believe they're going to be awesome or really unique, or really kind of fun for the audience. There's not as much experimentation. I think in the - I'll just take it. I'll just take this job because it's something to do. I definitely don't do that anymore. I did that a little bit when I was younger, just like - It could be great. Who knows? I really want to be a part of something right now. I feel like this need to be creative. I want to be out there with these particular people. I don't want to do that, unless I'm really sure that it's going to have like an impact these days, because I don't want to spend the time away from home, unless I'm doing that. And so, it's made me sort of more clear-headed about what I choose to make.' Being someone who has been a part of Hollywood for many years now and has seen the changes within the business, I was curious what Hartnett is liking about the ways of the entertainment industry today, and what things does he miss from yesteryear that he wishes were still in place. 'Well, I miss being younger, like physically. When we shot [Fight or Flight], I was definitely feeling it. I think things are constantly shifting in our business. There's a tendency to catastrophize the latest changes and to think - Oh, the movie business is never going to be the same again - and yet, it's persevered. I just hope people continue to see films together - that's the biggest thing. I do miss that there was that sort of round the water cooler conversation about the movies that came out the last weekend. Sometimes, that does happen still. When Sinners came out the last couple of weeks ago, there was a lot of conversation about it right after it came out. When Oppenheimer and Barbie came out, the same sort of thing. Every year, there's a few that come out that people are talking about, being a part of the zeitgeist. It used to be that there were more of those. I want that to be a thing that people participate in because I think you get more out of a film, watching it with a big group of people, personally. I love going to watch movies in theaters. I just hope people continue to do it.' Looking ahead, Hartnett will star alongside Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson in Verity, a darker story from It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover. Set for a May 2026 theatrical release, Hartnett plays Jeremy Crawford, the husband of a bestselling author (Hathaway), who hires a ghostwriter (Johnson) when his wife is unable to finish her novels after an accident. Hartnett said of Verity, 'The reason that came about was that I had met Anne a few times. We said we wanted to work together, but you never know - people say those things - but then when she was producing this and they sent me the script, I was like - Oh, she really means it. Michael Showalter is an amazing director. I think he's got a really unique vision. He's been able to do a lot of different genres. He had a take on this that was so gothic and surprising and unlike anything else that I'd heard of from the Colleen Hoover world. Colleen herself was saying this is a unique book in her repertoire because it was the first one - it was nothing like the rest of them. It has a real sort of intensity to it. I don't want to give away anything, but just to be able to work with Anne and Michael was the first reason to come onto it. Dakota, I had never met before but she's an awesome actress and a true professional. We just had a lot of fun on-set making it. I think audiences are going to dig it.' As I concluded the conversation with Hartnett, even after all of the characters that he has already taken on within his celebrated career thus far, I wondered if there are any particular characters or personas that he has in the back of his mind that he would still like to play in the near future. 'Oh, 100%. For me, it's like there are moments I see people engage in just normal life and I'm like - Wow, that was unique. Like, why did they do that? - try to figure out, psychologically, where they were at. Obviously, there's a lot of that in the news, but there's also a lot of that just in day-to-day life. I always kind of work backward from those moments and try to figure out someone's psychology. Then, I think - Oh, that'd be fun to play a character like that. I've got a few that I would like to play. The next one I'm going to do is going to be unique and fun, as well, and unlike anything I've done before. I can't say it yet because they haven't made an announcement on it yet. There are things that come along that are just surprising and they take you for a ride. Like [Fight or Flight]
