{"id":841308,"date":"2026-08-01T23:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/841308\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T23:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:32:19","slug":"hannah-waddingham-says-she-lost-out-on-acting-roles-due-to-her-height","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/841308\/","title":{"rendered":"Hannah Waddingham says she lost out on acting roles due to her height"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hannah Waddingham<\/a> has revealed she was repeatedly rejected for roles early on in her career<\/a> because of her towering height.<\/p>\n

The Emmy-winning Ted Lasso star<\/a> naturally stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and reaches 6 feet 2 inches in heels. While that kind of stature is an advantage in some occupations<\/a>, it apparently wasn\u2019t for many of the projects she auditioned for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would constantly get, \u2018We\u2019d love to use her, but we\u2019ve already cast the man,\u2019\u201d Waddingham said in a new profile by The New York Times.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t a woman who\u2019s 6 feet 2 inches have all the same vulnerabilities and misgivings about herself, wobble as much, as somebody who\u2019s 5 feet 2 inches?\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point in her career, her height is no longer seen as a drawback but rather an asset. In fact, her Ted Lasso co-star and co-creator Brendan Hunt told The Times that while \u201ctall\u201d was not part of her character Rebecca\u2019s original description, \u201c\u2018Tall\u2019 and, in certain shoes, often \u2018taller than the male lead\u2019 is like \u2014 that\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HannahHannah Waddingham (far right) reprises her role of Rebecca in season four of ‘Ted Lasso’ (AFP\/Getty)\"WaddinghamWaddingham said she lost out on roles because of her towering height (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the interview, Waddingham talked about resisting cosmetic surgery to maintain \u201cfull control of my face.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that at 52, \u201cI\u2019m actually more confident, more settled,\u201d adding, \u201cSo why would I want to make myself look like I\u2019m 30, when I wasn\u2019t as happy at 30?\u201d<\/p>\n

Next week, Waddingham will reprise her role as Rebecca, the self-assured and powerful owner of a fictional British soccer club, AFC Richmond, in Ted Lasso\u2019s highly anticipated season four<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The feel-good comedy drama, starring Jason Sudeikis as an American football coach who is hired to coach a British men\u2019s soccer team, debuted in 2022 to widespread critical acclaim. <\/a><\/p>\n

\"JasonJason Sudeikis (middle) leads \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019 as an exceptionally cheery soccer coach (Apple TV+)<\/p>\n

It won back-to-back Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022. It originally concluded in 2023 with its third season,<\/a> which proved divisive among fans, with some accusing the show of losing its way. <\/p>\n

A surprise fourth-season revival was announced in March 2025,<\/a> with the storyline picking back up in Britain, where Sudeikis\u2019s Ted has returned to coach a women\u2019s soccer team.<\/p>\n

Given the show\u2019s new premise, many of the cast members who portrayed the stars of Ted\u2019s male soccer team will not return. <\/p>\n

Recently speaking about the \u201cvery difficult\u201d phone calls <\/a>he had with each individual actor to explain their absence in the new season, Sudeikis said he did so because he \u201cdidn\u2019t want them to hear it on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because I love those guys and we all went through something together,\u201d the We\u2019re the Millers star explained to The Hollywood Reporter. <\/p>\n

The forthcoming season will see the return of fan-favorites Sudeikis, Waddingham, Hunt, Juno Temple, Jeremy Swift and Brett Goldstein, alongside a handful of new cast members, including Sex Education\u2019s Tanya Reynolds, Faye Marsay, Abbie Hern, Jude Mack, Aisling Sharkey and Rex Hayes. <\/p>\n

Ted Lasso season four premieres August 5 on Apple TV+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[292970,76552,49,48,361,3332,75,9987,1522],"class_list":["post-841308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-accessbygettyimages","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity","tag-entertainment","tag-horizontal","tag-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}