Interview: Saffron Burrows

Let’s get something out of the way – Saffron Burrows is spectacularly beautiful.

A willowy 6ft, with the most arresting hazel eyes, Burrows has become famous for her sensuous good looks and those cheekbones upon which you could sharpen a knife.

Now 35, and arguably at the peak of her career, she complains that on reflection her looks have been something of an occupational hazard. Not only has she had trouble convincing the film and theatre world of her talent and ambition, there are practicalities to consider too.

‘Well, my height is never not an issue,’ she explains. ‘They’ll phone me and say “What exactly is your height again?” and then sigh. I’m running out of leading men!’

Vanity does not sit comfortably with her moral values either. Burrows has always been a champion of various causes and an active campaigner for disabled rights and equality. ‘What I find most objectionable is this obsession with the ideal body,’ she explains. ‘I find it nauseating. And it irritates me, since I know a lot of disabled people, and parents of disabled children.’

Saffron is keen to prove that she is so much more than just a pretty face. Intelligent and highly cultured, she litters her conversation with literary, philosophical and political references, with the confidence that comes from mixing with eminent politicians and erudite directors.

She explains that her highbrow interests were a result of entering the modelling world at such a young age. She was only 15 when she was scouted and sent to Paris to work with the likes of Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Karl Lagerfeld. ‘I was thrust into that world, probably too young,’ she says. ‘And so I carried around books as if they were friends to protect me.’

Those early modelling years were not always easy for the actress – ‘I got out before I fell flat on my face…’

Read the full interview in our May 2008 issue.
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