It’s been 15 years since Emily Blunt made her professional acting debut opposite Judi Dench in the West End in the play The Royal Family.
Yes, her first role was alongside Judi Dench!
“Judi Dench was incredible and kind to me and I knew nothing,” Blunt told me while promoting The Girl on the Train (in theaters tomorrow). “I was so green. I was 18. And I remember meeting her for the first time and we were doing a poster shoot for the play and they were doing hair and makeup, which was like something I had never ever experienced before, and I was sitting there in the mirror and then I just heard that voice, that very iconic voice and I couldn’t stand, my legs just went weak.”
Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train
Blunt’s first red carpet was three years later at the Toronto International Film Festival for the indie My Summer of Love.
When I asked what she wore, Blunt grimaced, “I think it was probably some hideous dress I pulled together when I didn’t have help from a stylist.”
And then there’s Ms. Blunt’s first celebrity crush. “Oh,” she said, “I had a huge crush on Damon Albarn from Blur. [It was] massive.”
Make sure to watch the video above for more of Blunt’s trip down memory lane.