For the actresses on the popular Netflix series GLOW, their roles require a great deal of physicality to portray their 1980s professional wrestler characters. For actress Betty Gilpin, who portrays star-spangled wrestler Debbie Eagan (aka “Liberty Belle”), it has taught her to use her body in acting in a totally new way to her.
In an interview with Gold Derby, she explains how she was self-conscious about acting with her body as a teenager but with her starring role on Glow, that’s now changed:
“My high school theater teacher told me that I was a good actor from the neck up and from the neck down I was scared Betty. As much as that hurt my feelings at 15, it was completely true and continued to be true for a long time. I was just not in my body and very self-conscious and believed the business when it told me that my body’s value was to pose and try and look small in the wide shot and audition for my next job. Using my body in this weird, crazy, borderline dangerous way in this job has been a training process for my brain of, ‘Okay, you’ve been telling yourself that your worth is this and it’s not.’ I’ve been using myself head to toe in characters from now on. Let’s hope that lasts.”
