Eddie Marsan says he was ‘afraid’ of growing up around white working-class men

Eddie Marsan has said he “felt vulnerable and afraid” when he was growing up around “white working class men” on a council estate full of “toxic masculinity” in the 1970s and 1980s.The 54-year-old actor, who was raised in Bethnal Green in east London, is currently starring in science fiction drama The Power – along with Toni Collette – which sees the relationship between men and women change.Marsan portrays a London crime boss in the Amazon series, which explores a fictional world in which young women discover they can release electrical jolts from their fingertips.Asked on the Channel 4 News YouTube show and podcast, Ways To Change The World With Krishnan Guru-Murthy, if he was afraid of men when he was young, Marsan said: “I remember being afraid of white working class men.”The actor – known for fantasy series Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and comedy film Happy-Go-Lucky – added that he has “never been able” to portray working class men in the same “charismatic” way as fellow east London actors Danny Dyer and Ray Winstone.Winstone is known for portraying gangsters in the films Sexy Beast, The Departed and Ripley’s Game, while Dyer has starred in London soap EastEnders and fronted the documentary series Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men.Source: PA, Channel 4