For me, it's a voyage of self-discovery. I'm able to go on a set and to explore situations, personalities, people and characters that are close to me, or maybe not. Through going there and experiencing these different people and their situations, it helps me to get oriented and develop as a human being. So, acting is fundamental to who I am.

I've always believed that as an actor anything you're asked to do is within you. You just have to try and find it.

Acting is a really insular thing.

My wife was a make-up artist, and she's a total product junkie. Our bathroom is packed full of lotions and potions so I end up trying them out.

Anyone that knows me knows what I'm about, and I'm very much a British actor, a European actor.

I do tend to divide my childhood into darkness and light, and the first seven years were certainly the darkness.

I often have scripts sent to me with allegedly Scottish characters where I end up telling them, 'You're going to have to rethink this whole thing!