What I really learned from Tim Burton is that it's important to have your own person in a role because you can't play a character unless there are elements of human behaviour that you yourself understand. I was really struck by how Tim Burton would like to sit and chat about you... or question things which then you had never thought about. It is a good thing to always step back a bit with things like that. But I try my damned hardest to learn something from everything I do.

The thing I adore about acting is that it's not me: you get to experience all these emotions, but essentially it's not you.

I remember stealing some pic n' mix when I was seven; when I got out of the shop, I burst into tears.

There's a reason hobble skirts are called hobble skirts. You literally can't move very far in them.

I have endless playlists on my iPod so will throw on, say, Bruce Springsteen or The Smiths, depending on what kind of day I'm going to have.

I don't know if I'm so righteous.

I like to accessorise shirts with a little ribbon tied round my collar or a country style ascot. I've also sewed little hearts on some of my sleeves which I've done for years because I always wear my heart on my sleeve so if you see a little embroidered heart on my clothes, that's why!