This Is US actor Chrissy Metz is crying out for a comedy gig – and while we’re at it, she’d like one of her country songs to top the charts. As she takes on her latest role in Netflix’s Bank of Dave 2, she tells Adam Bloodworth why that’s proving much harder than success in TV and film

Chrissy Metz spent twelve years as a broke actor in Los Angeles before she landed her Emmy Award-winning role as Kate in This Is Us, the touching drama following one family over multiple decades. The show ran for six seasons and won four Emmys and a Golden Globe, pulling in a seismic 293 nominations over seven years.

It made Metz a household name – but after the accolades, she says she still struggles to be taken seriously in Hollywood, believing the industry is just as fake towards her today as it was before she was famous – now it’s “just in a different way.”

“Before it was ‘Oh poor girl, I don’t know if you’re ever going to get a job,’ and now it’s ‘Okay you’ve sort of proven yourself, but, like, hmmm.’”

Metz, who is 44, is perhaps more aware of the prejudices stacked up against her than ever before. She is speaking to City AM to promote Bank of Dave 2, the follow-up to the hugely successful Bank of Dave biopic that became one of the most searched for movies on Netflix in 2023.

In the sequel Metz plays Jessica, a reporter from New York who is sent to the north of England to write a story about Dave Fishwick, a working class man who sets up a community bank to alleviate thousands of people from debt. The way the British people embraced Metz was so different to the way she’s treated in the States that Metz even considered moving to Britain after working on the film. “People are just real normal in the UK,” she says. “There’s not this desire to look a certain way. Unfortunately in America, people, young girls especially, have been told to look a certain way – it’s just so refreshing to see normal people.”

Chrissy Metz on country music’s image problem: we’re seeing big guys, which is great – big not big girls

“Unfortunately I do think the size of someone’s dress or pants is a deciding factor in whether they get a job, and I just think that’s silly. Of course if it pertains to the role, I get that, if there’s things that people can’t do physically, but also there are so many other stories that need to be told. Oh my gosh, a normal person! A normal face! Someone ageing gracefully! That was one of the biggest takeaways from moving there. I even asked my team, should I just move to England? Should I just work there? I found it to be massively different.”

Metz grew up in Gainesville, Florida, and describes herself as a southern girl, likening the warmth of southern US hospitality to the way people are in the north of England. Growing up, Metz was abused by her step-father, who would force her to weigh herself in the family kitchen and threatened to lock her in cupboards. Speaking to The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast this year, Metz said the experiences are “still very painful” to relive. “Eventually, you bleed out,” she said, adding she’s still “trying to heal those wounds, slowly but surely, and it’s not easy.”