I am used to wearing corsets. Even when I was first starting out it was either Shakespeare or Chekov. Everything that I was doing involved corsets. I guess I am just not destined to breathe that deeply.

When I first started working, I was very aware of the fact that I'd been to university and studied Russian and French and not acting. So when I started working, I'd started working quite young, I felt like it was important to treat myself kind of like an apprentice and do as many different types of things as I could.

My daughter comes with me everywhere. I don't leave her behind. But it is hard. I mean, I think any working mother will tell you that what kind of falls by the wayside, you know, are the hours of sleep that you wish you had, and all that. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed, but I do sometimes feel like that exorcist lady!

Books have always helped me make sense of things. With any life experience, you can find someone who has documented it in a poetic way.

I must say, I am thrilled with my fan base. For some reason some of them are quite young, so they are quite frightened.

I grew up as an only child and my mother was also an only child, so we were both very passionate about reading. I think I passed that on to my daughter, who went plowing through 'Harry Potter' and every other book possible!

When I was pregnant, I had the romantic idea that after the baby was born I would not only take up reading in earnest again, but also write a novel while my daughter slept in her Moses basket. Of course, I barely had time to keep up with my magazines until she started sleeping properly.