I want to be respected as an actor. There's my ego. But I don't have a great need to be liked by an audience.

There's no great mystery to acting. It's a very simple thing to do but you have to work hard at it. It's about asking questions and using your imagination.

I was brought up in a house full of women; the first time I realised no one was interrupting me was when I was on stage - that's probably the subconscious reason I became an actor.

I used to do a lot of comedy. I don't know what happened. I think it's my face.

What I love about the East End is that theres a great perseverance, determination and courage. What I dislike about it is that there is sometimes a celebration of ignorance.

My business is not to show anybody anything; my job is just to do it.

It's a very fascinating thing for an actor to play somebody who is suffering, and you have to express the suffering, but in an inarticulate way and sometimes a dysfunctional way, through violence.

I wanted to work with Bryan Singer because I like his films.

Different races never fazed me because coming from Bethnal Green, I'd been around people of different races forever. Different class? That was much harder.

I've got four kids to feed and a wife to provide for. It's a worry but a great responsibility as well and one I relish.

The trick to acting is not to show off, it's to think the thoughts of the character.

In MLM 10 people sign up and 11 leave.

Now, one thing I tell everyone is learn about real estate. Repeat after me: real estate provides the highest returns, the greatest values and the least risk.

We put up with a lot to be saved from chaos. We always have.

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

That love doesn’t come easily and that relationships are supposed to be a struggle. Everything else is so hard; hopefully love is the one thing that is actually fun.

Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.

I'm often daydreaming and it's because I've always liked the idea of there being something more than the normal world.

There's a personal me, there's an actor me and there's a star me.

We all shed salty tears and shed red blood. All is one.

Maybe [I care about language] because I'm an editor, maybe because I'm picky, but it's all we got, don't shrink it. Don't dumb it out, make it little.