I think you know what you're up against when you take on a piece that you know is going to involve dragging up a lot emotions - you can end up being deeply immersed in gloom.

I have sleepless nights before press days.

I'd been gearing up to working in theatre since coming out of drama school, but it was an exciting time for TV drama - it was the birth of Channel 4, and Brookside was very cutting-edge at the time.

I like to think I'm a listener, and I'm fascinated by observing people - I suppose you just lock that in.

It always interests me how obsessed people are about age.

If I want to run around a field when I'm 70, I would like to have that option.

Running gave me a focus to start looking after myself, to eat properly, and focus on building up my strength.

I always start from scratch with a character - they're never based on anyone else. You get ideas of what people look like, and I'm a great people watcher. You can draw inspiration from people.

Whatever I'm doing, I try to give it everything.

Being an actor is an extension of telling a story and I loved story telling as a child.

No, I always wanted to be an actress.

When you had the dream, it looked big. So why quit when it's still small?

Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life's song, 'He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.'

The first black president will be a politician who is black.

Sometimes friends are dangerous. We must be very careful about the help friends give us.

You become who you pretend to be.

Learning to play with a big amplifier is like trying to control an elephant.

The industrial direction is sometimes too much. We should think more about fantasy.

I always wanted to open a delicatessen in Jerusalem and call it 'Cheeses of Nazareth'.

The best education in film is to make one

I am a sweet old softy, but it took toughness to get through what I went through.