I was a complete tomboy. I loved wandering out in storms or walking on the beaches in the dark. It was a very free upbringing, and I'm grateful to my parents for that.

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.

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.

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.

Respect can be offered and is deserved by a homeless man and so by a president.

Never stop learning. Never stop growing.

Once you have selected a sport or a creative activity, the rules are pretty much the same.

All we had ever heard about record company people is that they were vampires and criminals...and they killed Elvis Presley.

Our rational minds often attempt to minimise or negate the mystical encounters. We forget the power of our experiences. We must embrace the reality of that event, which is a miracle.

I want to serve chess through games, books that are works of art. I would like to bring the game closer to many people all over the world.

"What would you call the highest happiness, Lewie?" he asked. "The sense of competence," was the answer, given without hesitation.

Fear and hatred do not seem to find expression in tears.

We hoped to land a wild cat that would tear out the bowels of the Boche. Instead we have stranded a vast whale with its tail flopping about in the water.