DARKER SIDE OF THE CITY

For Amanda Seyfried, a gritty new role as a Philadelphia police officer showed her a side of her home town she didn't know

- VICKY DEARDEN

She shot to fame in blockbuster films Mamma Mia! and Mean Girls, and now Academy Award-nominated actress Amanda Seyfried has taken on a gritty role in new TV mini series Long Bright River.

In the eight-part drama, based on Liz Moore’s critically acclaimed novel, the 39-year-old plays Mickey Fitzpatrick, a police officer with a dark past struggling to balance her commitment to her work and her difficult family life, notably her sister Kacey’s struggle with addiction. After a series of murders, Mickey becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about the killer, especially as they appear to be targeting people like her sister.

The drama delves into the world of drugs and murder on the streets of Philadelphia, near where Amanda grew up.

She has two children — eight-year-old daughter Nina and a five-year-old son whose name she has not publicly revealed — with her actor husband, Life in Pieces star Thomas Sadoski, so filming meant spending time away from her family in some tough areas of that bustling city.

Here, Amanda talks about making this gritty new role work with family life, plus her forthcoming film The Housemaid, a psychological thriller in which she appears alongside Sydney Sweeney, and why she wants to play a villain next.