Interview: Robin Wright, House of Cards actress

Her ‘House of Cards’ character gets to the top of the pile by ruthless ambition, but Robin Wright is more laid back and relaxed about her career, Ed Power discovers.

On my way to interview Robin Wright, I bump into her in the lift. I say ‘bump’ — she stands, motionless, at the other side of the elevator, concealed behind vast ‘Famous Person’ mirror shades. She isn’t chilly so much as absent — a celebrity who has learned how to tune out in order to preserve her sanity amid the clamouring crowd.

Upstairs in a suite at this plush London hotel, the actress is more forthcoming. Wright, 47, smiles a great deal — a surprise if you know her mostly from political thriller House of Cards, in which she plays icy Claire Underwood, Lady Macbeth to Kevin Spacey’s machiavellian politician Frank Underwood.