Nottingham actress Samantha Morton on why she is playing an army wife

Jun 28 2011 by Alison Jones, Sunday Mercury

IN her latest film, Midland movie star Samantha Morton plays an Army wife whose husband is killed in action.

And the Oscar-nominated actress knows all about the heartache and uncertainty of war – because her brother served in both Gulf Wars and is now a security guard in Iraq.

Samantha, 34, says she took the part in American drama The Messenger because she wanted people to realise what it is like, not knowing if loved ones will return from war zones.

“I grew up in a military family,” she says. “My brother Marcus was a Royal Marine and served in both Gulf Wars. He is now working as a private security guard in Iraq.

“As well as that, my stepfather served in Northern Ireland. I grew up with that, too.

“I’m not a charity worker or a doctor, I’m an actor, so this was my way of giving something back. This is the best I can do to try to share with people how it feels.

“It is for anybody who has lost friends and family.”

Samantha, who comes from Nottingham, says she also has single motherhood in common with her character, Olivia.

“Olivia had lost her husband a long time ago psychologically to the war,” she explains.

“I have been a single mother, so I felt I could really identify with her.”

The actress has an 11-year-old daughter, Esme, by the actor Charlie Creed-Miles but the couple split up while she was still pregnant.