Academy Award-nominated actor Richard E. Grant has revealed that several prominent British actors displayed troubling behavior toward his daughter Olivia during her early career as a production assistant, unaware of her family connections.
In a recent Sky News interview addressing undervalued film industry positions, the 67-year-old Grant, known for roles in Withnail & I, Game of Thrones, and most recently Saltburn, highlighted the challenges faced by production runners. “The runners, who are paid the least amount of money. They’re the youngsters, they get there at five in the morning and they’re the last to leave. And if anything goes wrong, they get s— on from a dizzy height,” he explained.
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The Can You Ever Forgive Me? star then shared how the issue touched him personally. “I know because my daughter was a runner for two years and was appallingly treated by some very well-known household names in England,” Grant disclosed, adding that these individuals “changed their tune when they found out who her father was, which made it worse.”
This revelation sparked particular outrage from the actor, who stated, “It made me damn those people even more.” When questioned about potential confrontations with the alleged offenders, Grant acknowledged encountering “one person” whom he’d “never speak to” again.
While Grant didn’t identify specific individuals, public records indicate that Olivia’s tenure as a runner between 2014 and 2016 included work on several high-profile productions: The Riot Club, The Theory of Everything, and Florence Foster Jenkins. These films featured performances by notable actors, including Hugh Grant, Meryl Streep, Sam Claflin, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, and Felicity Jones. Online observers have noted that Redmayne likely isn’t among the referenced performers, as both Olivia and her father have publicly praised him since they collaborated on The Theory of Everything, per Buzzfeed.
Olivia, now 35, has since established herself as a respected industry professional. Earlier this year, she received the Zeitgeist Award from the Casting Society of America for her casting work on 2023’s blockbuster Barbie. Her recent credits also include the Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air and the Lee Miller biopic Lee. Olivia is Grant’s only daughter, whom he shared with his late wife, Joan Washington.
