So often when you meet child actors, they're weird - they're freaks. No, I mean it, they're really odd people.

As I've got older, I feel more confident in my body, so wouldn't want to tamper with it.

When I was 14 I told my mother I intended to be in the House of Commons in the morning, in court in the afternoon and on stage in the evening. She realised then a fantasist had been born.

If you're constantly frightened of being unhappy, how bloody exhausting must that be?

I think it's very important not to grow up with the unhealthy amount of attention that is sometimes put on people because they are 'actors'.

People who are exceptionally intelligent are often lonely because there are few people as intelligent as them. I have two little children and everyone says: 'I hope they're doing well in school. I hope they're bright.' And I think: why would anyone want their children to be the brightest? Academia is a lonely world.

I was a real art freak when I was a teenager.