Leila on Teresa: She's a Minx

By Larry Jaffee

London—The following interview with Leila Birch, who EastEnders fans know as Teresa di Marco, was nearly a year in the making. When I was in London last January we spoke on the phone, but her schedule in the pantomime production of Dick Whittington didn’t allow a meeting. She’s reprising her role in that panto again this holiday season, but this time I caught her while it was in pre-production. We did the interview in the lobby of London’s swanky hotel, One Aldwych.

WALFORD GAZETTE: So tell me a little bit about your background. How did you become an actor?

LEILA BIRCH: I grew up in south-east London. I knew I wanted to act when I was five. That's when I saw the Fred Astaire and Judy Garland films, and all of that. I started training when I was five or five-and-a-half and started to go to stage school on Saturdays. And then when I was nine, I did that full-time. So I didn't go to a regular school. I went to a school where in the mornings we'd have ballet-tap, singing-dancing-acting, things like that. And then in the afternoon you'd do a limited amount of subjects, just enough to get you by—English, biology, things like that, but you didn't take chemistry or science. It was really fun because we had dance studios that we'd go into at lunchtime and play music and dance around.

WG: Is anyone else in your family an actor?

LB: My great-aunt, who was one of the "Gaiety Girls," 1919 to 1924, around that era. We have loads and loads of her theatre programmes.

WG: While we're on family, I was curious whether you have any Italian in your blood.

LB: My grandmother's Italian and was born in Italy.

WG: Did that help when you went for the part of Teresa?

LB: I think maybe. I get taken for Jewish, Italian, Arab people, Spanish, all kinds of different things. And I think it's funny because I'm as much Irish actually as I am Italian, but no one ever says I look Irish! I still see my grandmother. She was one of the evacuees during the war. She's fantastic. And then on my other side, my grandfather and grandmother met in the Second World War. My grandfather's a major and he's very “jolly good,” all that kind of thing, very, very British. And she's very, very Italian. And it's great because I mean I see those grandparents like every week. On Sunday we go 'round and have a four-course meal. The whole family gets together and it's kind of very Italian that way. I'm very family orientated. I think it gives you a really good base, especially in the world of show business.

WG: When did you start to do serious theatre?

LB: I had my first job when I was nine. And then basically I did a whole myriad of different—bits here and there really. I did the Children's World Variety, and that was dancing. I did things for children's television programmes and little bit parts in British films, adverts, voice-overs. When I was 15 I went to Yale University in New Haven, CT for a five-week drama course. I don't think they were supposed to let me in because you know how the Americans and the English write the date and the month the other way 'round? They thought I was older than I actually was. They thought I was already 16, but actually I had my 16th birthday during the course. I don't think anyone ever found out, so I didn't get shipped home. This course opened me up to a more adult way of working with drama. There were people from New York, Alabama, Los Angeles, Connecticut. There was a girl from France. She and I were the only Europeans. The course was really intensive, nine in the morning ’till ten at night. It was really, really hard work.

WG: How did you get selected for that?

LB: Well, my mum knew someone who said, “Your daughter should find out about these courses that go on at Yale, because they produced a lot of good actors.”

WG: What was your first big break?

LB: Ah, I think one of the first things that I did that—I mean it was a small part, but it was the first thing that was real prime time. I did an episode of a series called Thief Takers for Carlton. I played a sexually abused teenage girl. I then did two years of college, a whole lot of physical theater and experimental theater. In my third year of this performing arts thing, it was more about putting on plays. When I finished, I wrote to 190 agents and found one. I did a television production about a reject football team, and I played this Italian girl called Gina, who just came on and basically told some guy who was pretending to be an Italian, “Oh, you can't be an Italian.” He scores a great goal and then we walked into the sunset. I then got an audition for EastEnders to be a baggage handler at an airport. The episode had to do with Cindy running away with David to Italy. As I walked to the lift the casting director said to me, “I'm going to persuade the director not to use you for this.” And I was like devastated... Then he said, “Because there's an Italian family coming in into the show. Would a six-month contract scare you?” And I said, “No!” There was this massive gap—five or six weeks—in between going for that audition and then coming back again. Of course, every day's slipping by and you're going, “Oh, no. They just didn't want me at all and they lied.” They asked me to come back again, and I knew I was among the last five, including one of my friends from college. We had a chat and said, “Whichever one gets it takes the other one out, meal, as much champagne as they want.” So we're down to the last five and we had to like read and everything and that was great. And then I got recalled back again, and I wasn't sure whether it was just me or me and two others or me and three others. The lady who played Stella—the lady who played my grandmother—walked through, and I met Marc (Bannerman, aka Gianni) and Michael (Greco aka Beppe).

WG: They were in the same boat, basically?

LB: We were all going for the screen test. We all met and it was very nice. And then I had to do a scene where I was pretending to be Nigel’s girlfriend. And I'm thinking, “Well, maybe they want me for the girlfriend, that maybe they don't want me as Teresa.”

WG: Your mind plays tricks.

LB: I got worried and waited for hours until maybe seven at night, just waiting. So I was, "Why would they leave me hanging around so long?” And they were quite appreciative that I stayed. But, of course I'd stay. I wanted the job! And then I found out two days later that I'd got the job. Obviously I was ecstatic. I screamed on the phone to my agent!

WG: So once the family was set, did you bond with Mark and Michael?

LB: Very much so. You know, we bonded as a family, yeah. Well, not so much as siblings. Maybe at first, but recently I saw Marc and Carly [Hillman, who played her younger sister Nicky]. She did a gig somewhere—she sings—and me and Marc and one of my other friends went to see her. They all just ended up staying at my flat. It was fantastic, like a family reunion! When we were working with each other, we bonded in a completely different way than because there was almost like a kind of family edge to our relationship with each other. I felt quite responsible for Carly.

WG: How old was she then?

LB: I think she was about 13 or 14, but she was playing a year or so younger than she actually was. I think my character was two years younger than my real age. I was 19 when I got the job.

WG: Do you have any older brothers?

LB: I have an older brother in real life, yes.

WG: Was he as protective as Gianni and Beppe?

LB: Yeah, but in a different way, not quite as hands-on, a bit more kind of like taking a step back but having knowing looks. (Laughter)

WG: Well, how much difference in age between you and your brother?

LB: Four years.

WG: Wasn’t Gianni supposed to be about four years older than Teresa?

LB: Yeah, but Gianni was like hot-headed and like a bull in a china shop, but with a good heart.

WG: What did you like about Teresa?

LB: When she came into the show, she was very much a party girl who didn't realise the consequences of her actions. You know, she'd go out and buy drugs, but she didn't ever think, “Oh, I might get caught,” or “Oh, Mum might find out.” She was rebellious. Her dad had just died, and like I don't think she'd gone to any counseling! So of course, she was going to all of a sudden turn into this rebel because I think she was Daddy's little girl. And then her brothers obviously step in to attempt to take the role of the father figure, but she's like, “You're my brother. Go away.” If you look at her relationships, she's a psychotherapist's dream really, isn't she? She just shacks up with all these different blokes, and then she finds Matthew. He trusted her in a way that really she hadn't ever got in a relationship. It was like, “Oh, I've got a problem, and you've got a problem,” but it was all quite superficial. Matthew is actually the first time you've seen her show any loyalty to anyone really, outside of her family.

WG: EastEnders gave you recognition and put you in the public eye. How did you deal with fame?

LB: I'm starting to grow my hair out, and it’s like it was when I was on the show. On the way here I had three or four people just go, “Yeah. I know you,” or, “Yeah, hey.” But people are very nice about it. I think my character appeals to certain cultures, because I don't get as many white people recognising me now as I do with Caribbean or Asian people. Maybe it's because I played an Italian, an apparent ethnic minority, and also because my character went out with black people, white people, criminals, old people! counseling! So of course, she was going to all of a sudden turn into this rebel because I think she was Daddy's little girl. And then her brothers obviously step in to attempt to take the role of the father figure, but she's like, “You're my brother. Go away.” If you look at her relationships, she's a psychotherapist's dream really,

WG: Before Matthew, Teresa had to deal with Tony turning out to be gay.

LB: I know a lot of people who that's happened to. From Tony’s point of view, you can't help who you love and you can't help what you are. People get into a kind of verbal contract really when you're in a relationship with somebody and one of the stipulations in that contract is you don't sleep with anyone else, you don't kiss anyone else. Male or female, not the point. The fact is he two-timed her with an ex. The fact that it was a man just made it more obvious she couldn't compete. But she felt, “What have I done?” She had a chat with Tony and at first she was like, “I don't want anything to do with you.” After a while, she just moved onto the next guy! (Laughs) I think she thought, “I can find someone a bit more exciting.”

WG: I think personality-wise, Matthew made the most sense.

LB: Yeah, he was a club deejay. He was a bit more exciting. And he was really a bit more her age. Tony was a bit older, and he'd kind of done his really, really cool things. Now he was nice, but I think he was a bit too settled really for her at that stage of her life. And then, she found Matthew, and obviously Matthew was cool and he kind of ran a CD stall, and he was quite nice. And he had this secret. As soon as he told her, he let her in really to a level where she was not only a girlfriend. It kind of awakened something inside of her in that protective way that was very much like her mother or her brothers had been to her. This is the first step where you actually saw her grow up a bit.

WG: Matthew’s prison plight really captured the imagination of the British public.

LB: I had this one woman come up to me in a department store. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't real. She just said, “Oh, you're a good girl, you are. My bloke's in prison and I'm waitin' for him and you just carry on. You wait for him. You're a good girl.” And I was just like, “Yeah, I will, but.” I didn't have the heart, you know.

WG: But that woman's living it, so it is real.

LB: Yeah, she's living it. And I was thinking, “God, I hope, for her sake the script writers don't just suddenly make me have an affair with someone!” I was happy that they allowed Teresa to stand by her boyfriend and do the whole ‘Free Matthew Rose’ campaign because really everybody else just turned their back on him.

WG: Well, there was also this interesting rivalry with Sarah, though. They were both competing for his affection. You were talking about how Teresa was a psychotherapist’s dream. Remember Sarah’s kleptomaniac phase, and how she was saved by Jesus? I didn’t think Teresa would turn to religion to solve her problems.

LB: Teresa was a Catholic girl, but, you know, she's like, “Well, we go to church for Christmas and that's enough for me.” Yeah, she lighted the candle at Christmas and that was probably about it.

WG: I remember an episode that had Sarah going to the prison and saying to Teresa, “Do you want to come, too? He really wants to see you.” And she couldn’t handle that.

LB: Yeah. I think that kind of freaked her. She did go a couple of times. I remember being in the prison set, but it was all a bit too real, I think. Teresa was constantly escaping from who she was. And to be dealing with “My boyfriend's in prison. No one's asking me what I feel about this.” You know, she had no real friend to turn to. She had Robbie to a certain extent. She had a competitive thing with Sarah. Everyone else really who was close to her had left the square. And there wasn't really anybody who she thought she could really open up to.

WG: You just mentioned Robbie. He really fancied Teresa, but she was only interested in him as a friend.

LB: Robbie had own problems really. I mean look at that family for a start, you know. You think ours is in big trouble. What about theirs? (Laughs)

WG: There was not really a lot of closeness between Louise and Teresa.

LB: There were scenes off-camera that we discussed, but at the end of the day it's a soap, it's fast-moving and you have to realise that. I liked it when I was in the restaurant, where I was able to give a lot of comic looks.

WG: Is there any of Teresa in you?

LB: I don't think I could be further away from Teresa. She wasn't a baddie as such, but she was a bit of a minx, you know, and sometimes that's quite fun because it's something that I would never do. So it's almost like getting to live out this strange lifestyle, like be a fly on the wall and look at how you could have been in an alternate reality. So I think that's really fun about her and I quite miss her in certain ways actually. People have said, “Oh, would you go back to EastEnders?” And I said, “You know, I think it would be quite fun,” you know, because I would have to like refine my character. They didn't kill us (the di Marcos) off, which is a nice thing.

WG: Has playing Teresa made it difficult getting other parts?

LB: When you're in a soap, you get this high amount of recognition, but then when you leave sometimes they don’t want to touch you with a bargepole because the general public won't necessarily believe you as another character yet. So you have to have this cooling-off period as such, which can take people ten years, three years, five years, it depends. I've managed to get quite a lot of theatre things.

WG: What are you working on next?

LB: I'm going to play the character Fairy Bow Bells for a Manchester theatre panto production of Dick Whittington. He was the Lord Mayor of London. It starts on December 10th and it finishes the 4th of January. Pantomime I think is one of those things that you have a responsibility as a performer, whether you're a magician or an actor or a dancer or a comedian, because you get the children to realise the magic of the theatre.

I did it last year, the same part. I jump onstage and go, "Hello, boys and girls," very, very Cockney and a lot of the comedy. I didn't even realise I was being funny. The audience laughed. So for me as an actor, with the audience so much on my side because my character's amusing and funny and a goodie, it was really, really fun last year. It's so high-energy panto and it's Christmassy and it's lovely. So I'm very much looking forward to doing it.

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