Theres something important, as an actor, about allowing yourself to be approached by people to do roles. People see different things in you.

Quiet people, people who arent given to emotional outbursts, people who are economic with words - theyre also fun to play, but you find yourself needing a laser precision in those roles. Otherwise you just sort of stand around, looking slightly brain-dead. You worry about being uninteresting.

A cricket ball broke my nose when I was a kid so I couldn't breath through it. Before I had it operated on I used to stand on stage with my mouth slightly open.

I guess I'm just good at playing repressed individuals. I'm lucky because those are often the roles that catch people's eyes.

I was, if you like, a successful schoolboy in that I had a degree of talent in all the required things that make you a success at school.

I've always had a 'Work hard, play hard' attitude to life - I still do - but sometimes you get involved in something that needs a calm, methodical approach.

In the end, there's something of the puritan work ethic about me that roles really must sustain me on an intellectual level.