Actress Laura Donnelly admitted she worried her career would be over at 35

Actress Laura Donnelly has admitted she thought her career would be over when she turned 35-years-old.

The 43-year-old star plays Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy in ITV's gritty series The Dark, which airs on Sunday and Monday at 9pm.

The Belfast native also played a femme fatale alongside Colin Farrell in Sugar, as well as boasting an impressive Broadway career.

And for her next project, Laura will grace the screens with Michael Fassbender in Netflix's Kennedy biopic, where she will play the enigmatic Rose Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's mother.

By all accounts, her career is bucking the long-standing tradition that actresses struggle to land meatier roles over 40, but Laura readily admits that there was a time when she was in a panic that her career would be over at 35.

'It's insane, and I certainly grew up with that expectation,' she tells EVOKE.

'I just assumed that my career would be over by 35 and that was just the way the world works; I was just so conditioned by our culture.'

She goes on to explain: 'I didn’t really question it when I was 20, but of course when you’re 20, you never think you’re going to be 40, so I did have that kind of expectation, and that meant that as I approached my 30s I was in a little bit more of a panic and then evidence started coming in to the contrary.'

Even today she confesses that 'it's still always a little bit there in the back of my mind' because the nature of acting is so rooted in luck but is aiming to be still going strong when she's in her 80s.

So are things finally changing for the better in the industry?

‘I don’t know to what extent it’s changing overall; I think there is definitely some improvement, and we’re seeing much more visibility of actresses in their fifties playing wonderful roles and sexy roles, roles that aren’t defined by them being a mother or a lot of the time when you’re in your 50s it’s going to be a grandmother.'

That said, playing Rose Kennedy is hardly a background role, and she relishes the chance to play someone who had such an 'extraordinary life.'

'I feel like I've learned a lot from her; I've come to admire her strength so much and to see it for what it is. I think that we have an idea of Rose being cold and stoic, and I don't think that's what she was at all.'

'... she was faced with so much and also the fascination of watching a woman find her integrity when at a time she was so hamstrung by the expectations of the day. She found a way through that; she still found a way to be powerful and to get what she wanted and needed and to live the life that she wanted.'

Riding the wave of her success, Laura admits that it feels so amazing, adding: 'I could have a longer career in front of me than I do behind me, but [there's] still more change [needed].'

She points to a stat she recently read where actors have a better chance of being a lead in a film if they are named Chris than if they are a woman.

Along with a thriving career, getting older has also gifted her the confidence and self-belief she struggled with while she was younger and having grown up in Northern Ireland.

'Not in any way [did I have that confidence], and I think that it’s been the single biggest element of my career gaining some momentum has been my belief in myself increasing over time.'

'I walked into rooms when I was younger feeling not entitled to be there, like, I was going in to prove myself and I know that an audition in a sense is going in to prove yourself but there are ways you can think about what you have to offer that can mean that that’s not the primary energy that you’re going into meetings with and I think that had not come naturally to people from our country up until this point, we have natural Imposter Syndrome.'

'We go into rooms more sure that we’re not liked and try and win everybody over rather than assuming I belong here until you tell me otherwise.'

'So that’s just not the culture that I grew up in, and it’s taken a long time to learn.'

Laura goes on to add: 'They’re [those feelings are] definitely fewer and further between and fleeting. That is one of the glorious things that comes with getting older, especially as a woman: you definitely care a lot less about what everybody thinks of you.'

'But I also feel that I’ve got enough experience now that I walk in… [and] I will know what to do whatever’s going to be thrown at me, so yeah, that’s just a confidence I’ve gained over time. Thank God, it’s pretty miserable the other way around.'