Onstage, there's no hiding; you either can or can't act. There's no second take.

And the most important thing - apart from telling a good, believable story, and being a true character - is to be someone the audience will care about, even if you're playing a murderer or rapist.

I'd like to put the record straight about that. I've been labelled an irresponsible role model for young mothers, but none of it is true. I couldn't even walk for two weeks after the birth, let alone exercise. I ate very healthily all the way through my pregnancy and afterwards. I didn't do anything extreme.

Any scene that involves stripping off is hell. You just know it's going to take a day or more to get it right. It never gets any better and it's always uncomfortable, and all you can do is grin and bare it. I just pray it's never gratuitous and that it doesn't look so fake that all you hear in the audience is, 'Well, that's not really her, is it?'

But Americans find me bizarre and always ask me why I eat so many carbs. I tell them I don't get full otherwise.

In Hollywood I got work but not the right work until Pushing Daisies. Every girl in LA wanted the part of Chuck. I was terrified - I didn't know if I could be funny.

I have the most lovely, healthy bouncing baby, she was all very compact and the right size.