I would rather do many small roles on TV, stage or film than one blockbuster that made me rich but had no acting.

It sounds ideal, a sort of beach childhood. But it wasn't really. I didn't use the beach very much at all.

And there's no way I'm going to do Dame Edna.

In my industry, everybody wants to know everything about you, and its just dumb. I think the only way of maintaining some of that mystique is by not giving away too much about yourself. It has served me well so far. I never want to feel up for grabs.

You can have a laugh in Los Angeles, or you can weep in Los Angeles, depending on your attitude towards it.

My roots are still in Britain, that's where I live, that's the place where I come from.

The writing is the springboard for your intuitive stuff and then you see, maybe a colour of what you want to achieve. Then you bring in the technique you've learnt. But when you're on film, you're not always in control of that. That's what makes me believe in a kind of collective unconscious, a sort of experience you draw on.