“Think of that great scene in Fleabag where the guy goes,
‘It’s just a haircut,’ and she goes, ‘It is not just a haircut!’ ” Daisy
Edgar-Jones says, stabbing a chip into the air for emphasis.
The 23-year-old actress is explaining to me why, while she
finds it hilarious to be attached to 2020’s most famous fringe
— which spawned articles in every publication from the
Daily Mirror to Vanity Fair — she also totally gets it. “Hair
says so much about how we want to express ourselves,” she
says, and her fringe “has good vibes”. She had it cut just before
auditioning for the role of Marianne in the adaptation of Sally
Rooney’s Normal People, which clocked up 63 million views
on BBC iPlayer in the eight months after it was launched and
which rocket-launched Edgar-Jones’s career. A raw, tender
study of first love, Normal People became a phenomenon due
in part to the fact it was dubbed the horniest drama of the
pandemic. The nudity was split 50/50 between Edgar-Jones
and her co-star Paul Mescal, and it gave Edgar-Jones “the gold
standard [for sex scenes]. They were woven into the drama so
beautifully. Why does the music have to change, the lights
‘I’m a
bit of a
hot mess
too...’
Daisy Edgar-Jones became an overnight star aged 21
thanks to Normal People – and the self-confessed ‘good girl’
has been working nonstop ever since. But behind the scenes
there’s just a normal twentysomething who’s desperate
to kick back and make some mistakes, says Pandora Sykes
Photographs Charlotte Hadden Styling Jenny KennedyThe Sunday Times Style • 9