Sir Derek Jacobi<\/a> believes he would have been much more successful if he’d “had the looks” to match his talent.<\/p>\n ![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/image-library\/partners\/bang\/land\/1000\/s\/sir-derek-jacobi-has-opened-up-about-his-career-aW1hZ2VzMS8y.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Sir Derek Jacobi has opened up about his career<\/p>\n
The 87-year-old actor has been a regular on stage and screen since the 1960s – appearing in blockbusters such as 2000 film Gladiator and its 2024 sequel – but Derek is adamant he wanted to be a fully-fledged “movie star” and he is convinced he never landed typical leading man roles because of his appearance.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Guardian, he’s asked if he sees himself as “ugly” and the actor replied: “Oh yes. Oh, as a kid, yes. A ginger-haired, freckled-faced \u2026Acne-ridden, east London kid. Yes, absolutely. I can\u2019t look in the mirror.”<\/p>\n
Jacobi went on to add: “If I were honest, I\u2019d have liked to have been a movie star. I think I can act. But I didn\u2019t have the looks to go with my acting. <\/p>\n
“If I had had the looks as well as my acting ability I think my world would have turned out differently. But I didn\u2019t. And I never wanted to look at myself because I didn\u2019t like what I saw.”<\/p>\n
\nWhen asked who he would like to look like, Jacobi said: “Rock Hudson … When I was growing up he was the film star.”<\/p>\n
\nHe added: “Probably [I would have been bored as a movie star], but I would have been rich. And, for an East End kid, that matters.”<\/p>\n
\nJacobi previously confessed he’s always felt insecure about his career because he has constantly felt a need to prove himself since his childhood. <\/p>\n
\nAsked if the lack of work for actors has made him worry about his work, the actor told The Telegraph newspaper:”Always! Insecurity is the story of my life.<\/p>\n
\n“It goes back to my youth as an only child. If I’d had brothers and sisters I might not be so timid. In the big world of making your way I’ve always felt I’ve just got to keep at it otherwise I’ll slip off the ladder.” <\/p>\n
\nJacobi added that being “in awe of achievement” has contributed to him feeling a sense of underachievement. He explained: “I think I’ve always been in awe of achievement. When you are surrounded by a host of high achievers, I think that has an effect on you if, like me, you feel you’ve underachieved.” <\/p>\n
\nJacobi \u2013 who has been honoured with two Olivier Awards among other accolades \u2013 admitted looking in his cupboards helps to reassure him of his success.<\/p>\n
\nHe quipped: “These days I can always look in the cupboard and see an award or two if I need to.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.femalefirst.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"22 May 2026 Sir Derek Jacobi believes he would have been much more successful if he’d “had the looks” to match his talent. Sir Derek Jacobi has opened up about his career The 87-year-old actor has been a regular on stage and screen since the 1960s – appearing in blockbusters such as 2000 film Gladiator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2427852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[476070],"class_list":["post-2427851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-sir-derek-jacobi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Sir-Derek-Jacobi-is-convinced-he-would-have-been-much.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2427853,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427851\/revisions\/2427853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2427852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}