I was always the one in the background or the donkey. I was never a star, I never got to be the main part.

My husband would say my signature dish is pasta with a tin of tuna plonked on top. So, no. Although I make a good bangers and mash. I have been known to stick cocktail umbrellas in it, take a photo and send it to James upstairs with a text saying, 'Your food's ready'.

One fella went on the internet and got lots of photos of me in Love Actually, topless and naked and stuff, printed them off, stuck them on A4 paper, laminated them and sent them to me for me to sign. I was away and asked my husband to open all my mail for me, so he got quite a shock. And another man sent me a picture of a face where the nose was a willy.

And people are so het up about the fact I'm in the theatre - it's like, 'Ooh these telly names, can they be any good?' I came out of RADA and my first job was at the National Theatre, but everyone wonders if I can cope. It makes me laugh.

I was in Covent Garden today having a pizza, and these men who worked there were secretly trying to take my picture from behind the counter. That sort of thing is so odd.

I have to keep Dune perfume in my dressing room, because I always wear it, but I must never put it on in case it makes me choke.

I couldn't give a sh*t what they have to say. As soon as I go home and see my husband James Thornton of Holby Blue fame and pick up my dog and cuddle him, that's all that matters. I couldn't care if some theatre reviewer thinks my American accent sounds a bit Welsh.