At 14, Annie Murphy Had A Huge Crush On This ’00s Heartthrob

Annie Murphy has always had range. By 14, the Ottawa, Ontario native was a rising star in her private school’s theater program, portraying Little Red Riding Hood in Into The Woods and Dodger in Oliver Twist. She also earned a role in The Gut Girls, about women who worked in a slaughterhouse, and a part in one particularly memorable, little-known work: “My English teacher wrote a very bizarre play about the Bronte sisters, and I played a Bronte,” Murphy tells Bustle over Zoom in late June.

Murphy, now 36, has continued to work across genres. After her breakout, Emmy-winning stint as Alexis Rose on Schitt’s Creek, she defied the TV wife archetype on the dark comedy Kevin Can F**k Himself, before recently starring in the Black Mirror’s buzzy Season 6 opener, “Joan Is Awful.” Now, she leads Freeform’s new animated comedy Praise Petey, voicing the titular city girl who unwittingly inherits her father’s small-town cult.

It’s all much more than the 14-year-old Murphy could have imagined. Back then, she says, she would have been too “deeply intimidated” by the über-confident Alexis to even take on the role, let alone handle the spotlight that accompanied it. “Because I hit puberty quite late, I was feeling gangly, not super comfortable in my own skin,” she says. It didn’t help that she abhorred her private school uniform — she much preferred overalls, which she had in “many different colors” — but she did manage to get away with non-compliant footwear. “I mean, my pink skate shoes were hideous in hindsight, but I felt like it was a real act of rebellion.”

Eventually, she found her place among her “theater nerd” buddies. “I had a couple of friends who I'm still very close with who were really formative in making me who I am,” she says. “I'm an only kid, so I've dragged a whole bunch of people into my family.”

Below, Murphy reminisces about waiting for puberty, being a theater nerd, and her teen crush on her fellow Black Mirror star.

Take me back to 2000-01 when you were 14. How are you feeling about your life then?

I was waiting to get boobs and my period. That was a constant anxiety. [I got my period] at the very end of 14, but I had felt like it was never going to happen. And I certainly was one of the last girls in school to become a woman, as they say.

What were your big hopes at the time?

I wanted a kiss. I had never been kissed before, and that was my big desire. I also wanted to act. The school I went to had an amazing theater program. I didn't really feel like I knew where I fit in until I found the theater nerds, and that felt like home.

It sounds like you were already imagining your future, in terms of a career.

I don't know if I thought about it as a career at that point. I always thought a career was like being a lawyer. I didn't really see myself as a professional actor. I just knew that I loved doing it.

How did you feel when you were on stage?

I would become so full of nerves before each performance that I would have to convince myself not to run away. Then once I actually got on the stage, all the nerves would go away, and it was such a wonderful experience. But even that wonderful experience didn't prevent me from the next night having to convince myself not to run away.

Praise Petey cleverly riffs on a lot of popular women's entertainment, like Real Housewives, Sex & The City, and all that. What were you watching at 14?

I was watching a lot of Fawlty Towers. I loved John Cleese so much. My dad is a film guy, and so I was watching lots of old movies. But The OC was my little guilty binge. It was like my soap opera.

Did you have a crush on any of The OC characters?

Seth Cohen!

Who were your other celebrity crushes?

I went through a phase of hanging up Backstreet Boy posters, and I went through another phase of just hockey players all over my room. Then, Josh Hartnett, heavens.

That’s pretty awesome since Hartnett’s in the same season of Black Mirror as you.

I still haven't met him though. I don't know what I’d do.

I remember seeing him in Pearl Harbor—

Yes, in the tank top, Jesus.

What do you think your 14-year-old self would think of you now?

I think my 14-year-old self would be pretty proud of me. I have a really nice life, and it's full of really wonderful people who give out a whole lot of love. That's something that I've always wanted.

Is there any advice you would give 14-year-old Annie?

You will grow into your eyebrows. And they will get you your first big job.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity. The interview took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike.