‘I felt I should turn down roles’: Cathy Tyson reveals she shunned Hollywood because she didn’t want to be typecast as a prostitute after Band Of Gold
Cathy Tyson has spoken out about why she turned her back on Hollywood.
Aged just 21, the actress, now 55, garnered critical acclaim for her role as a prostitute in the 1986 film Mona Lisa and scooped Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.
Cathy went on to star in the hugely successful 90s ITV drama series Band Of Gold, but said she decided to turn down roles during the height of her fame because she didn’t want to be typecast as an actress.
Her story: Cathy Tyson has spoken out about why she turned her back on Hollywood (pictured in 2015)
In an interview with The Mirror, Cathy said: ‘In my early career I felt I should turn down roles. That’s what my activism involved, especially at the beginning.
‘I also had to turn down Kevin Spacey, when he pleaded with me to do The Iceman Cometh. But it was to play another prostitute.’
Cathy continued: ‘I was getting lots of offers to do auditions in Hollywood. But I just thought, “I’m not a capitalist and this is the land of it. I don’t want to live here because of all that it stands for”.’
Aged just 21, the actress, now 55, garnered critical acclaim for her role as a prostitute in the 1986 film Mona Lisa. Here she is pictured in Band Of Gold in 1995
The actress said she found the brights light of Hollywood ‘too much’ and found it overwhelming being such a young age in the industry, with hints dropped by agents that she needed to lose weight.
She previously told MailOnline: ‘I turned down several auditions which was silly but I was frightened when people told me to lose weight because I was already skinny.
‘I thought, “I want people to judge what’s coming out of my mouth rather than what I look like. I’ve got a brain.”‘
Career: Cathy went on to star in the hugely successful 90s ITV drama series Band Of Gold (pictured L-R Geraldine James, Barbara Dickson, Cathy and Samantha Morton)
Her career was temporarily stalled by the birth of her son Jack in 1988.
But by then her marriage to Craig Charles was crumbling and they divorced in 1989 when Jack was still a baby.
More than three decades later, Cathy said she would jump at the opportunity to star in a Hollywood film, and added the industry is a ‘great place for an artist to be right now’.
The actress is now starring in ITV detective drama series McDonald & Dodds, with the first episode set to premiere on Sunday.
The cast also include Martin Kemp, Patsy Kensit and Rupert Grave.
Standing up for herself: Cathy decided to turn down roles during the height of her fame because she didn’t want to be typecast as an actress