I have a sort of long-term plan to direct. I'm pragmatic about it. I realize I don't need to rush it or force it.

I think you have to find the humanity in the character and then the deterioration is a part of the process - the journey of the character. It's like playing King Lear. You can start off as a nice old man who finishes up crazy.

I would love to direct a feature and have Robert Connolly produce it. That would be really fab.

I've ended up spending more time in front of a camera than on stage, but the stage is where I come from.

I was 11 when a teacher suggested to my parents that they should send me to drama classes to curb my disruptive ways in the classroom. The next Saturday I was acting, and thereafter it became a ritual of my youth to see a show at the Belvoir on Sundays and, if I was lucky, another at the Opera House on Monday after school.

As we mature and grow older we collect a lot of baggage, and a lot of that stuff you collect on life's journey gets in the way of acting. My kids can imagine a character and transform in the blink of an eye. It's so simple for kids, so complex for adults.

I think actors do make really, really wonderful directors.