I’ve been looking at oil paintings from oriental artists lately, and the one artist who’s inspired me right now is a man named Hokusai and I’ve had his book by my bed looking at how he interprets landscapes – mountains and water and flowers and birds.

Painting is a hobby for me.

In film and television you have to be able to see the whole picture in a different way than you do on the stage because you shoot out of order and you're working with technology.

I've grown so much as a person through playing Gabrielle, much less living in New Zealand and being with all of these people that I can't imagine my life being any different.

Because I've always been more afraid of writing than I have of doing anything visually such as directing or acting.

I think the joy of wanting to direct is having that nervous anxiety knowing your film is about to be shown and you're sitting right there with everyone.

Actually I have to say when I'm acting, I try not to think about directing at all.