When you play a real person, you feel a sense of responsibility that obviously you don't feel when you're playing a fictional character.

We don't have enough young, female antiheroes. We don't accept women as antiheroes the way we do the men.

When a show communicates on such a vast level internationally, you know, and philosophizes about power, gender politics, and crimes against humanity, which Game of Thrones deals with all those things, then I'm just grateful that it reinstates my faith that art can be life applicable.

I was a very physical child... I was a tree-climber; I was a tomboy.

I just think that if we stopped playing on the superficial level and concentrated on women in real crises throughout the world, it would be a better thing if we all stood together about the important stuff and stopped getting distracted by superficial things.

Ive got a soft spot for really cheesy 1980s ballads by Pat Benatar and Foreigner. When I'm having my make-up put on at 6am and I need to be warmed up gently, it's always Ella Fitzgerald or Nina Simone.

A character on a page has to feel real, and for me the greatest fun is if you could gender-swap the role.