Los Angeles, November 15, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
English actress Florence Pugh once revealed that her fascination with accents began when she was just six years old, recalling how she gave her first-ever acting role an improvised regional voice during a school nativity play.
An old clip from The Graham Norton Show has resurfaced online, featuring Pugh sharing the unusual story of playing the pregnant Virgin Mary in the production. Rather than stick to a conventional portrayal, the young actress decided that her character should speak with a Grimsby accent.
Asked about her early experiments with accents, Pugh said she found the role insufficiently interesting and decided to give Mary a regional identity during the first rehearsal.
“I was like, ‘This isn’t interesting enough’. I was six years old, and I went into the first rehearsal and I was like, ‘She’s gonna be from Grimsby’,” she recalled.
Pugh explained that she had picked up the accent from her grandparents, who were from Grimsby, and had simply imitated the way they spoke.
Host Graham Norton asked whether she was allowed to retain the accent for the performance. Pugh confirmed that she was, adding that the script’s description of Mary’s physical discomfort made the regional voice particularly suitable for the character.
The conversation also touched on how convincingly Pugh adopts American accents on screen. Norton observed that American audiences often assume she is American, while the actress joked that people sometimes mistake her natural British speech for an attempt at an accent.
Actor Tom Cruise, who was seated beside her during the appearance, complimented her British accent, prompting laughter from the audience.
The resurfaced anecdote offers a glimpse into Pugh’s early instinct for characterisation and her willingness to experiment with voices from childhood.
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