Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning reveals surprising friendship with Hollywood A-lister

Jessica Gunning has shot to fame following her star turn in the smash hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer , where she played the relentless yet vulnerable stalker, Martha.

The actress joked about her career opportunities since taking part in the show, while revealing that she is good friends with an Oscar-winning star. When asked about her next career moves on the Perfect Day with Jessica Knappett podcast, she revealed that she had been offered gigs in 'Celebrity Infested Waters' and to play Smee in an Australian touring production of Peter Pan.

She joked: "I don't want to [criticise] off a production company, because obviously it's a very nice thing. But Richard has obviously got incredible meetings after this thing, and everyone kept saying to me, ‘What have you got through?’.

"I got something through for…one of them was Celebrity Infested Waters; celebrities swim with sharks. The other one was for an Australian touring production of Peter Pan to play Smee. So, I was like, 'Oh, the offers are flooding in, watch out! No, I don't want to diss, obviously, it'll be a brilliant production."

© Ed Miller/Netflix

She continued: "It might be a theatre move; a theatre move would be nice. But also, I've been writing something for about a million years that now hopefully is getting a bit more. I don’t know if I can talk about it; it's with Cate Blanchett's production company, because I did a play with Cate about five or six years ago and we're good friends now.

Teasing about the new project, she added: "Her and her husband have got their production company, and I had this idea with my friend Joe Dockery years ago that was a pilot. But again, after Baby Reindeer, things have picked up." Intriguing!

© John Lamparski

She added to The Hollywood Reporter: "I don’t know if I can talk about it. Cate Blanchett, who I did a play with, is producing it. It’s going to be announced soon. It’s a very light-hearted action comedy."

© Getty

Cate and Jessica worked together back in 2019 in the National Theatre production of When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, where they became good friends. She spoke about the role at the time, saying: "I would go work for Cate Blanchett as a maid for the day in a film if I could. I’m a big fan. Suddenly, she was doing this play and I got a part in it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone work like she does."

Speaking about whether Cate has watched Baby Reindeer yet back in June, Jessica said: "I think so, or she’s about to. She told me that her friends are texting her about it, asking, ‘Have you seen it yet?’ – which really makes me laugh."