Like many Catholics, I was very affected by the personality of Jesus and that impression, pious as it was, has stayed with me.

There is something essentially sanguine about me, which I am inclined to attribute to the fact that I was born by caesarean section. It must affect you.

I am never bored, never short of anything to do and I don't even ever feel lonely. I am quite gregarious and I get out and about a lot, but sometimes it is just wonderful to be on your own.

I would say critically of myself that I am somebody without secrets. Sometimes acting depends on you having a secret. I don't think I've ever had that.

To enter a theatre for a performance is to be inducted into a magical space, to be ushered into the sacred arena of the imagination.

I went to Queen's University Belfast and stayed nine months, then I ran away to be an actor.

Childhood didn't have a big influence on me, really - in fact I spent most of it plotting how to escape.