Whatever I'm doing, I try to give it everything.

I always start from scratch with a character - they're never based on anyone else. You get ideas of what people look like, and I'm a great people watcher. You can draw inspiration from people.

I still love coming into work everyday after so many years working as an actress. I've been working more or less continuously and I find I have to really want to do the project to make it work because you have to put such an enormous amount of effort into it.

I was a complete tomboy. I loved wandering out in storms or walking on the beaches in the dark. It was a very free upbringing, and I'm grateful to my parents for that.

It always interests me how obsessed people are about age.

I think you know what you're up against when you take on a piece that you know is going to involve dragging up a lot emotions - you can end up being deeply immersed in gloom.

If I want to run around a field when I'm 70, I would like to have that option.