I like working intensely, then going away and thinking about it, working out why it didn't work and then coming back to it. It makes the work richer, I think.

It's a career that's enticing because you go on stage, for example, and people clap. You get that affirmation, but you can't go into acting for that because it's really your own self-belief that's going to get you through.

I think you go through a period as a teenager of being quite cool and unaffected by things.

With TV, the most important thing is just to get people to turn it on.

I've made my peace with being in the spotlight, definitely.

It is hard sometimes to see how other actors are working when you are working with them.

As an actor, I would call it a role where you get to stretch out a bit.