Catherine Tyldesley has "always sacrificed a lot" for her career.
Catherine Tyldesley has had to make a lot of sacrifices for her acting career
The 40-year-old actress was on holiday when the call came for her to audition for a part in BBC drama 'Lilies' in 2006 and was just about to get on a plane to Washington when producers got in touch about the role of Eva Price in 'Coronation Street' in 2011.
Speaking on the 'White Wine Question Time' podcast, she told former 'Loose Women' anchor Kate Thornton: "I have always sacrificed a lot for my career. There were two big jobs...when 'Lilies' came along I was in France and they wanted to see me for a recall. I was on a very long overdue holiday that I'd saved up for for ages.
"My agent said they really liked me and I remember thinking that it'd cost me more money to fly back; I didn't have much at the time but I thought 'Let's do it!'
"Weirdly, I was about to fly to Washington when I got a call from 'Coronation Street' and it was the same scenario. We were physically getting on the plane. And luckily, my friend, said 'Oh babes, I'm fine. Go! You have to go!'"
Catherine landed the role of barmaid Eva and stayed with the ITV1 soap opera until 2018 but explained that she still suffers from "impostor syndrome" and has to think back to those moments when she took a "risk" and it paid off.
She said: "It's decisions like that where I do have days of self-doubt, I do have impostor syndrome but to my truest self, I know I can do it. It's digging deep on those days where you feel really low and you don't have any confidence. Moments like that have taught me that sometimes taking a risk and making a small sacrifice can absolutely pay off. You've got to be dedicated in this industry."
Since leaving 'Coronation Street', Catherine has been a contestant on 'Strictly Come Dancing', appeared in BBC sitcom 'Scarborough' and is about to star in a UK tour of 'Bonnie and Clyde: The Musical' but explained that she will always have "so much respect" for soap actors because of how they operate around such a hectic schedule.
She said: "I've got so much respect for soap actors. I did a job recently, I won't say which one it was but the director pulled me to one side and told me that my stamina was off the scale. He said it's because I'd done a soap and I'm used to that crazy schedule and I'm able to pull it out of the bag when something changes at the drop of a hat.
"It's a whole new skill set when you work on a soap, it really is and I had an incredible time at 'Corrie'."
Tagged in Kate Thornton