After Life star on: delivering pizza to working with Ricky Gervais

As viewers anticipate the announcement of Season 3’s After Life, co-star Ethan Lawrence (who plays James) reveals how he went from delivering pizza to working alongside Ricky Gervais in the popular hit Netflix series.

Following a successful role as fan-favourite Joe Poulter in Jack Whitehall’s critically-acclaimed TV show ‘Bad Education’, Ethan found himself delivering pizza (and almost getting attacked by a pair of vicious Rottweilers whilst on the job) before landing a dream role in Netflix’s “After Life”, which has currently wrapped up production on its latest season.

Commenting on the transition from TV screen to pizza delivery, Ethan says: “It happens, and I like to let people know that being an actor isn’t all sunshine and rainbows – unless you’re Tom Cruise. It’s tough. It’s not a magical, mystical fairyland, it’s a business.”

“I had a few really scary deliveries. The worst one was when I delivered to a country house. I delivered the pizza, the door shut and as I was walking back towards the gate – they released the dogs. Out came the Rottweilers – and I thought to myself, laughing, this is how it ends!”

“Over the course of that year, I probably did somewhere within the region of 16,000 pizza deliveries! It was an eye-opening experience.”

On working with Ricky Gervais, the sharp-tongued funny man appears to be a lot friendlier than most people think. Ethan commented: “We do long days, long hours, but Ricky makes sure that we stop at 4. It’s so that the crew can see their families, go see their children. He’s very good, a very sharp director.”

Ethan Lawrence reveals all with Matt Kerridge in the Student Beans podcast ‘I’d Quit but I’m Broke’ which is available on Spotify, where he reveals more on what it’s really like to work with Ricky Gervais, the harsh reality behind auditioning for roles, and what’s next in store for the actor who recently announced his upcoming appearance in ‘Horrible Histories’…

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