Kate Ashfield: Driven to the edge

Kate Ashfield's career has been built on performing in emotionally intense, disturbing roles. Perhaps that's why she's not yet a household name. And that's just fine with her, she tells James Rampton

One of Kate Ashfield's first stage appearances was in the 1995 Royal Court production of Blasted, the late Sarah Kane's viscerally shocking play that featured scenes of a man being raped and – get this – having his eyes eaten. It was not what reviewers would describe as a rattling good night out. Ashfield's character was required to perform graphic oral sex on a man – just one of many controversial moments which precipitated a tabloid feeding frenzy.

"On the press night, the papers suddenly decided it should be a news story," the actress recalls. "They said the play was 'a disgusting feast of filth' and that 'the money would have been better spent on remedial education for Sarah Kane'. Stephen Daldry, then artistic director of the Royal Court, had to go on Newsnight to defend it."

For all the scandal, however, Ashfield relished appearing in a drama that really fired audiences up. "People did walk out," she recalls, "but it was fantastic to be involved because it is so rare that theatre is that provocative. Often the only people who see plays are those who love theatre already – they're not a diverse group. If you can widen that group at all, then great. A lot of people came to see Blasted who wouldn't normally go to the theatre."

The only tricky moment was the night her parents came to see the show. "I remember meeting my mother at the stage-door afterwards, and the first thing she said was 'where are we going to eat then?' To be honest, they've had to sit through some pretty tough things over the years!"

Indeed. In the decade since she left the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, Ashfield has made a speciality out of work your mother wouldn't like. A brief scan of her CV confirms as much. On the crest of the latest wave of Brit Pack actors, she has had starring roles in: Shopping and F***ing, Mark Ravenhill's equally headline-grabbing play about the corrosive effect of consumerism; The War Zone, Tim Roth's profoundly disturbing film about a father who systematically abuses his offspring; Crime and Punishment, BBC2's in-your-face reading of Dostoevsky's cheerless novel; Storm Damage, an unremittingly bleak picture about a young lad forced into a life of crime; Perfect, a film focusing on a couple locked in a cycle of domestic abuse; Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry, a drama about a bitter anarcho-terrorist's revenge on the world; Pure, a relentlessly harsh piece about a 10-year-old whose mother is a heroin addict; and Closer, Patrick Marber's gruelling play about mutually destructive relationships. Phew.

These are scarcely works designed to add to the gaiety of nations. Nor will that change much in the near future, as Ashfield has taken on more projects likely to frighten the horses. In person, this likeable and thoughtful actress is far removed from her sometimes moody, challenging screen image. Even though she is dressed today in blue jeans and a grey V-neck jumper, she also catches the eye. Heads turn as the striking, blonde-haired actress enters the central London bar for our interview.

The 29-year-old, who was born and bred in Birmingham, has just finished work on her first major Hollywood outing. In Beyond Borders, she stars opposite Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen as a committed charity worker helping to run aid stations in the midst of humanitarian catastrophes in Ethiopia and Cambodia.

"In one scene, a soldier puts a grenade in a baby's hand. In another, my character is attacked by a soldier and slashed across the cheek. It's quite depressing," she says with a laugh, before adding the almost inevitable rider: "It doesn't have a happy ending either." No surprises there, then.

And yet Ashfield's latest project is even harder on the emotions. In BBC2's This Little Life, adapted by Rosemary Kay from her own novel, the actress delivers a deeply affecting performance as Sadie, a woman driven to the very edge after giving birth to a severely premature boy called Luke. By turns euphoric and desolate, she embarks on a hallucinatory discourse with her incubator-bound baby.

The actress, who spent a lot of time researching in a neo-natal unit at a north London hospital, explains why Sadie is impelled towards the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Because babies can't talk, the parents become their mouthpiece. If the patient were an adult, you could ask him how he felt, but you can't. That's why Sadie becomes obsessed and starts thinking that she can communicate with Luke and knows best what he is going through."

So here's the big question: just why is Ashfield so drawn to these extreme and traumatic subjects? "Drama should make us confront our emotions," she asserts. "People are going through similar things all the time in real life. Thought-provoking is good. Films like The War Zone or Storm Damage may be bleak, but abuse is so common. These stories need to be told because they're happening all the time.

"The only film I've enjoyed recently was The Pianist – it was upsetting, but at the same time it was very educative. You don't want to depress people, but the alternative is much worse – just bland, throwaway stuff that never challenges you and you never think about."

Ashfield, whose partner is Rankin, the photographer who directed her in Perfect and is responsible for the picture of the actress used above, despairs of the shallowness of most movies. Declaring that "one of my favourite books is Jude the Obscure" – nobody's idea of a laugh a minute – she says "so many films are too light. Look at Legally Blonde, that could never be accused of having a lot of substance.

"Obviously, sometimes you want to watch something mindless, but there should be a place for the thought-provoking, too. Look at films like Lantana, Ivansxtc or Monsoon Wedding, they work so well because they tell you something you didn't already know."

Despite the fact that Hollywood producers will return her phone calls, Ashfield still doesn't believe that she has made it. "I don't feel I've broken through," she says. "I'm still not considered 'a name' and that frustrates me. It seems these things are based on your celebrity rather than your body of work. That can be depressing."

All the same, Ashfield would certainly not feel at ease as the sort of red-top celeb who is famous for being famous. "At the Empire Awards last month, I found myself physically shaking as I walked past the photographers on the red carpet. But no one took a picture of me because they didn't know who I was, which was such a relief!"

The actress experienced at close quarters the downside of fame when she co-starred with former EastEnders star, Patsy Palmer, in a 2001 series called Do or Die. "We were filming in Australia just after the Olympics and there were lots of British photographers out there. They found out where Patsy and her family were staying, and in the end Patsy had to move house and get a bodyguard. I was shocked by that. It would have made me really paranoid."

All in all, Ashfield is content. She lands starring roles without having to endure the hassles of stardom and she is quite happy for things to stay that way. She wants the parts, but not the paparazzi. Ashfield has absolutely no desire to become celebrity-magazine fodder. "That's why it's a good idea to make bleak, low-budget films," she concludes with a wry chuckle.

'This Little Life' is on BBC2 tomorrow at 9pm