My alter egos have changed a lot over the years. When I was a child, I was a black horse called Storm. Whinnying and jumping over bamboo poles in the garden took up pretty much my entire childhood.

I'm fundamentally a busy person; I spend my time doing useful things and profoundly useless things!

I would like to know that I was still going to be employed as a woman well into my 60s. In acting terms, a career that spans a lifetime is a very hard thing to achieve, particularly as a woman.

I just don't believe you're capable of being an actor unless you have a desire to experience your emotions in a public way.

Films about women and their concerns are seen as frivolous, limited and, most damaging of all, niche.

I get grumpy about the innate conservatism of our tastes; I love bold theatre, and I get annoyed when a heritage piece is really successful.

As a kid, I really loved 'Jane Eyre,' I used to fantasise that the past was so much better and my lifetime was crap.