Reg-Jean Page: The reason you think history is white is because youve been lied to – British GQ

He always felt like an outsider, was always the weird kid from another country.

It was very valuable as an artist to grow up outside one of the centres of the world

Classmates would ask, Do you have telephones in Zimbabwe? (Yes!) or Are there lions wandering down the high street? (Yes!) Really? (No!)

To be clear, there were streets and phones and TVs, but only two TV stations, So we had whatever cheap TV we could afford from the rest of the world.

The result: Red Dwarf, but also Santa Barbara (a lurid American soap opera) and weird European football roundup shows from which he would learn about the academy system in Yugoslavia from Gillette World Sport Special.

Yet, he says, It was very valuable as an artist to grow up outside one of the centres of the world. Being an outsider, he says, was key to making him an actor. Hed always had to think who hed need to be in order to fit in.

Coat, 5,740. Shirt, 520. Trousers, 680. Boots, 590. All by Alexander McQueen. alexandermcqueen.com. Socks by Falke, 13. falke.com

You know, he says, I was a loud kid this is not hard to believe so Ive always been expressive and I would think to myself, Why am I weird once Ive come to the UK? Whats different about me? And so he realised, If I was this guy, Id get access here; if I was this guy, people will accept me in this way... Its code-switching, but then taken into subcultures.

He joined a punk band for similar reasons. For him, a self-confessed nerd and good boy, punk was socially acceptable rebellion, a way to play someone else, he says, one set at a time. Well, that and it was the desire to yell at people. Like, youre a teenager, youre going to be irresponsible and unreasonable, and I was like, Whats an acceptable way to slam the bedroom door that wont get me into trouble? Ah, thats what people do in rock bands! Excellent. So I joined a rock band instead of slamming doors. I jumped around on stage and yelled at people while I tried to figure out how the world worked for a while.

When he lived in Los Angeles, in his twenties, he was an outsider again and so wanted to know the difference in language. Between Brentwood and Inglewood, say, or what Van Nuys meant, or the difference between the Eastside and the Westside. When he took LA Ubers hed take different accents out for a spin with every ride.

Generally Ill stay undercover and put on a New York accent or a West Coast accent. It is, he says, like scales in the morning, if youre a pianist. In the rehearsal room, actors give each other a lot of slack. But if youre not confident ordering a coffee in that accent, in the place that accent is from, then thats not good enough to go on screen.

Read more:
Reg-Jean Page: The reason you think history is white is because youve been lied to - British GQ