Netflix actor Chrissy Metz: Country music rejects bigger white women
This Is US actor Chrissy Metz is crying out for a comedy gig – and while we’re at it, she’d like one of her country songs to top the charts. As she takes on her latest role in Netflix’s Bank of Dave 2, she tells Adam Bloodworth why that’s proving much harder than success in TV and film
Chrissy Metz spent twelve years as a broke actor in Los Angeles before she landed her Emmy Award-winning role as Kate in This Is Us, the touching drama following one family over multiple decades. The show ran for six seasons and won four Emmys and a Golden Globe, pulling in a seismic 293 nominations over seven years.
It made Metz a household name – but after the accolades, she says she still struggles to be taken seriously in Hollywood, believing the industry is just as fake towards her today as it was before she was famous – now it’s “just in a different way.”
“Before it was ‘Oh poor girl, I don’t know if you’re ever going to get a job,’ and now it’s ‘Okay you’ve sort of proven yourself, but, like, hmmm.’”
Metz, who is 44, is perhaps more aware of the prejudices stacked up against her than ever before. She is speaking to Morning Wire to promote Bank of Dave 2, the follow-up to the hugely successful Bank of Dave biopic that became one of the most searched for movies on Netflix in 2023.
In the sequel Metz plays Jessica, a reporter from New York who is sent to the north of England to write a story about Dave Fishwick, a working class man who sets up a community bank to alleviate thousands of people from debt. The way the British people embraced Metz was so different to the way she’s treated in the States that Metz even considered moving to Britain after working on the film. “People are just real normal in the UK,” she says. “There’s not this desire to look a certain way. Unfortunately in America, people, young girls especially, have been told to look a certain way – it’s just so refreshing to see normal people.”
Chrissy Metz on country music’s image problem: we’re seeing big guys, which is great – big not big girls
“Unfortunately I do think the size of someone’s dress or pants is a deciding factor in whether they get a job, and I just think that’s silly. Of course if it pertains to the role, I get that, if there’s things that people can’t do physically, but also there are so many other stories that need to be told. Oh my gosh, a normal person! A normal face! Someone ageing gracefully! That was one of the biggest takeaways from moving there. I even asked my team, should I just move to England? Should I just work there? I found it to be massively different.”
Metz grew up in Gainesville, Florida, and describes herself as a southern girl, likening the warmth of southern US hospitality to the way people are in the north of England. Growing up, Metz was abused by her step-father, who would force her to weigh herself in the family kitchen and threatened to lock her in cupboards. Speaking to The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast this year, Metz said the experiences are “still very painful” to relive. “Eventually, you bleed out,” she said, adding she’s still “trying to heal those wounds, slowly but surely, and it’s not easy.”
It’s really hard for women in the country world. They’re making strides but I don’t think I have seen a plus sized white woman on the country charts even though we’ve seen big guys, which is great. It’s a very complicated thing
Metz is a talented actor, comedian and country music star. Away from acting, she is the lead singer in the band Chrissy and the Vapors and writes comedy, with ambitions to work more in that field. Away from the Emmy nominations for her carefully-realised, vivacious Kate in This Is Us, Metz has become one of a small cohort of plus-sized actors getting lead roles. Metz says that since This Is Us there’s been “drastic change” when it comes to representation for different body sizes on television, but she lambasts the country music industry in particular for falling far behind.
“I think it’s so much easier for men who might look different or be a different size – for women it’s still an issue, particularly white women, I don’t know what that is. I have a couple friends who are on country charts but it’s really hard for women in the country world. They’re making strides but I don’t think I have seen a plus sized white woman on the country charts even though we’ve seen big guys, which is great. It’s a very complicated thing. I think that people still associate a different body size with people being lazy. There’s this negative connotation attached to it and it’s unfortunate. A lot of people are misinformed – some people have health issues that prevent them from losing weight or being a different size.”
She sounds grateful, and like a true creative, when she explains that TV work pays the bills. She doesn’t need to make commercial music to get her rent checks together. Rather, she incorporates her Christianity into her songs and records them for her own happiness, although she wouldn’t mind if it took off: “Would I love a single on the radio? Yeah. But at the same time I don’t want to compromise my artistic integrity for commercial success because ultimately it’s not going to make you happy anyway.”
Talking over Zoom, Metz likes to drop a joke to lighten the mood. It seems a shame she will inevitably be asked about female body image and representation so often when she would much rather be talking about acting. But she is aware she has become a role model for women around the world, and embodies that.
When she talks about what she wants to do next, Metz says “love” a lot. “I would love to try my hand at an actual good English accent, but yeah I just sort of want to try all sorts of things. I think as an actor you just want to create. It doesn’t matter what medium you use.”
“It’s hard,” she concludes. “People get pigeonholed. I’m very grateful for the opportunity but I’m also like, hey, I wanna show the other side of who I am.”
Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger is on Netflix now.