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Olivia Colman: The Favourite actor battled with Wikipedia to get her incorrect age changed

The online free encyclopedia added eight years onto the British actor's age

Jacob Stolworthy
Monday 28 January 2019 04:34 EST
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Golden Globes 2019: Olivia Colman wins Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy

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Olivia Colman has revealed she battled with Wikipedia to get her age changed after discovering the website had it listed incorrectly.

The British actor, who is Oscar-nominated in the Best Actress category for her role in The Favourite, noticed the online free encyclopedia had added eight years on to her age.

She emailed them under a false identity so that she didn’t appear “vain” – but didn’t get a response.

“I didn’t get a reply, and wrote again going ‘sorry guys, but I know it’s wrong’. And they didn’t reply,” Colman, 44, revealed on a new podcast hosted by her former Broadchurch co-star, David Tennant.

“So I said, ‘actually, this is me, and it’s really upsetting me that you’ve made me eight years older than I actually am.’ They said, ‘we’d have to see a birth certificate to prove it’, and I went, ‘whose f***ing birth certificate have you looked at in the first place to make me eight years older?”’ she quipped.

At the time of writing, the site listed her age correctly – however, ten minutes later, it was back to being incorrect.

Colman's correct age listed on the free online encyclopedia
Colman's correct age listed on the free online encyclopedia (Wikipedia)

...and 10 minutes later, listed incorrectly
...and 10 minutes later, listed incorrectly (Wikipedia)

The actor also said that she “can’t cope” with being recognised in public and now “lives like a hermit” now her profile has risen following her performance in The Favourite.

However, she maintained that she doesn’t begrudge people approaching her as being recognised goes “hand-in-hand with... getting work that I’m loving and always dreamt of”.

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The Golden Globe-winning Colman will overtake Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in the forthcoming season of The Crown.

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