I usually do get to play the very sweet, charming roles... but I'm not an obvious kind of villain.

Being a theater actor, I've done a lot of plays where I've seen someone else play the same role in another production. Especially with the classics: Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams.

One of the things you learn at drama school is not to play the result, but just to play the moment.

I'm in fact Australian but my mother's English so I've got no problem playing a domineering English woman.

I think early on it's important to put that at the back of your mind and make your own choices. Sometimes you do pick the same choices, just as a matter of course - not because someone else did it first, but because it was the best choice to make. But any actor worth his salt makes something their own.

I love a bit of a sequin and a bead. I do, even though I usually wear trousers, when I put a frock on. I like a bead or a sequin.

The libel laws in Australia are a lot tougher than they are in America.