A beloved icon on EastEnders has a rather famous brother who even helped land her a huge acting role
An EastEnders legend shared how her very famous sibling helped her bag a major acting gig.
Laila Morse is best known for playing Mo Harris – making her debut way back in 2000. As the loud-mouthed elder stateswoman of the Slater clan, Mo has become one of the soap’s iconic and beloved characters.
However, fans have been left floored recently after finding out her brother is a mega Hollywood star. Laila is not the only famous star in her family, as her brother is none other than Hollywood legend Gary Oldman.
Gary rose to fame starring in films including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Immortal Beloved, Sid & Nancy and Harry Potter as Sirius Black.
However, Laila began her career later in life when she was 51 years old, and has since credited her brother as helping her to land her first acting role in 1997’s Nil By Mouth.
She told Loose Women: “My big brother wrote and directed Nil by Mouth. He just wanted something raw. He was with a friend and he just said, ‘she could do that’. I just looked at him and went what? I can’t do that.
“He said, come back to the hotel and read a bit, which I did…and he went, right you’re doing it. That’s the first thing I’d ever done.”
The two are very close to each other, with the siblings spending Christmas Day together at Gary’s California home in 2018.
In sweet snaps shared by Gary’s wife Giselle Schmidt, the family smiled for the camera around the dinner table, with another showing Laila making a “proper English Christmas dinner” for them to tuck into.
While back in 2021, the pair enjoyed a trip to Las Vegas. Taking to her Instagram she shared a snap of the pair of her and Gary, and wrote: “Throwback to our trip to Las Vegas.”
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
