Since her scene-stealing breakthrough in The Devil Wears Prada, back in 2006, EMILY BLUNT has taken on blockbuster roles as varied as Mary Poppins, a suffering divorcee in The Girl on the Train and a survivalist mother in A Quiet Place. But, despite her stellar résumé, she remains remarkably ‘un-Hollywood’. Here, the British actor talks to KATIE BERRINGTON about her latest project – Western miniseries The English – her reputation as one of the nicest people in the industry, and learning to care less about perception – particularly when it comes to parenthood.

Emily Blunt is returning to the rhythm of her home routine: “Falling back into what I love, which is the school run, pottering around, and the school run again.” We’re speaking at the turning point between the “two extremes” of her life – either immersed in a project on location (she wrapped a movie in Atlanta a few days ago) or at home with her family in New York, not missing a pick-up or drop-off. “I haven’t pottered for a while and I’m liking that,” she says, sitting in an office surrounded by books. “Or cooked or baked or done anything that brings me some kind of, you know, soulful joy.”

This might explain why she is radiating such a serene energy today – although Blunt has the air of someone who is rarely ruffled, despite insisting with glee that her house is a zoo. “Life is good, really good.” At this point in her career, she feels grateful to have the space and opportunity to explore “what works for me in an artistic sense – and allows me to balance being a mum as well”. Blunt, who was born and raised in south-west London, now lives in New York with her husband, fellow actor and director John Krasinski, and their two daughters, Violet and Hazel. “It’s the juggle – especially when your kids are as young as mine.”

After two decades in the industry, this point has been reached via an assorted portfolio of roles, spanning a stern, returned Mary Poppins (“I liked the challenge and was simultaneously terrified”), a delectably scathing fashion assistant in The Devil Wears Prada (her major breakthrough and a fast-track style education for the actor, who at the time “dressed like a teenage boy”, she says), a young Queen Victoria, a woeful divorcee suffering from alcoholism in The Girl On The Train, a survivalist mother in the post-apocalyptic A Quiet Place (directed by Krasinski) and a sci-fi war hero in Edge of Tomorrow.

Next up is Western miniseries The English, in which she plays an Englishwoman who arrives in the 19th-century Wild West seeking revenge for the death of her son. She crosses paths with Eli (Chaske Spencer), an ex-cavalry scout and member of the Pawnee Nation by birth, when he saves her life, and the pair embark on a journey of myriad discovery.

Read the full interview/article in our press library and check the video of the BTS in our video vault.