Broadway and Hollywood star Laura Linney is known for her roles in movies including The Truman Show, Mystic River, Kinsey, You Can Count on Me, and the Netflix crime series Ozark.
While the native New Yorker has received two Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards, Linney is more often recognized by fans for her role as Sarah in the ensemble cast of the 2003 romantic comedy, Love, Actually.
In the film, which is set during the winter holidays, Sarah falls in love with gorgeous graphic designer Karl, who’s portrayed by Rodrigo Santoro (Che, Westworld). The two characters eventually share a kiss but their evening — and any chance of a relationship — is interrupted by a phone call by Sarah’s mentally ill brother, Michael (Michael Fitzgerald).
On The Graham Norton Show, Norton talked with Linney about how it’s become a holiday tradition for people to watch Love, Actually at Christmas time — and that viewers feel sorry for Linney’s character, Sarah.
Linney responded that she’s aware that people feel sorry her, but as she pointed out, “They shouldn’t…because I got the best kiss in that movie. Hands down, hands down, I got the best kiss.”
Linney revealed that at the time of filming the steamy scene, she and Santoro were both broken-hearted in real life. She said the two of them “had just been dumped.” But Linney was determined that they could make each other feel better that day, in that scene. She said: “I think there’s a sweetness to the scene because of that. We were both very sad.”
Norton turned the audience and said: “Let’s all watch it again now!”
Even after all her success since Love, Actually, as Linney told Stephen Colbert (below), she still doesn’t believe that she’s “made it.”
Note: Linney’s most recent film is the 2024 coming-of-age drama Suncoast with Woody Harrelson (Cheers, Natural Born Killers) and Nico Parker (Dumbo, The Last of Us), who plays the teenage protagonist Doris.
As seen in the hulu trailer above, while caring for her dying teenage brother along with her audacious mother (Linney), Doris strikes up a friendship with an eccentric activist (Harrelson) who’s protesting one of the most consequential medical cases of all time.
