7 May 2025

Martin Freeman Q&A: “My childhood hero was Jesus as portrayed by Robert Powell”

The actor on Stevie Wonder and wishing he had the talent to have been a musician.

Martin Freeman was born in Aldershot in 1971. He is an award-winning actor performing both on screen and on stage. He is best known for his role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit film series which won him the 2013 MTV Movie Award for the Best Hero.

What’s your earliest memory?

My earliest memory is having an asthma attack and having to go the doctor’s. I was still making my mum and sister laugh. Now, that’s showbiz.

Who are your heroes?

My childhood hero was Jesus as portrayed by Robert Powell in the TV series Jesus of Nazareth. I don’t have a hero now – just people I really admire. Paul McCartney, there’s one.

What book last changed your thinking?

I generally get my thinking changed, or challenged, in all kinds of ways: conversations, interviews, art. What’s Left? How the Left Lost Its Way by Nick Cohen was one book that changed my thinking.

What political figure do you look up to?

Growing up, Tony Benn was very big in our house. I love his diaries. Aside from his skill as a parliamentarian, his humanity really comes through in his writing.

In which time and place, other than your own, would you like to live?

There are lots of other times that I’d love to poke my nose into. The English Civil War, Victorian London (of course), Judea circa AD 32 to catch a part of an interesting story.

What would be your Mastermind specialist subject?

My Mastermind subject… tough one. Maybe Stevie Wonder in the Seventies?

What TV show could you not live without?

I think The Sopranos is truly wonderful, a work of art. Peep Show is my comfort food. Too many others to drone on about now.

Who would paint your portrait?

I would not hate the pop artist Peter Blake painting me.

What’s your theme tune?

I wish I had a theme tune. If I do, it changes too often to make it a theme.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I remember my mum saying to my brother Tim when he was in his early twenties: “Before you know it you’ll be 30. Then you’ll be 40. Then you blink and you’re 50.” She was basically telling him to get on with it. I definitely know what she meant. I haven’t always followed it as well as I might have.

What’s currently bugging you?

What’s bugging me? That’s hilarious – as if there could be less than 12 things bugging me at any given time. Let’s say staff in shops not looking up from their phones. Or people dawdling along London streets, glued to their phones. Or people getting their political information from 20 second clips on their phones… you get the picture.