Actress

I have never known what it feels like to wake up in the morning full of the joys of spring, and wander through the day feeling capable of coping.

Acting is a subtle combination of hiding and revealing yourself, and as I'm not an extrovert, this is painful for me.

Accents are interesting, because they very often inform the way a person moves.

I do have a slightly rebellious streak in me, I'm afraid.

Actors are bloody marvelous at hiding.

My twenties were a write-off.

I am a tea connoisseur and my idea of absolute heaven is a tea shop.

I'm not very good at watching myself. I look at it and I think, 'Oh, they've used the wrong take.' My job is over and it's not healthy to sit there and scrutinize your work as you're invariably unhappy!

I don't search it out - I really want to be clear, I don't search out the misery! I'm not sitting at home going, 'I can't wait to do another harrowing piece of work.'

'MotherFatherSon' was just an extraordinary read and I wanted to be a part of it.

I just hold out for pieces where I immediately feel an emotional connection with a part.

I would never condone anything which I thought was salacious, titillating, or gratuitous.

I'm not planning on being a health role model.

Now that I'm in my late 40s, I'm trying to make up for a little bit of lost musicals time.

I own a copy of the original 'Talking Heads' by Alan Bennett, which I purchased many years ago shortly after they were first broadcast. It's been lovingly well-thumbed over the years. They are magnificent. A masterpiece.

There's some truth that roles for older women are harder to come by, but it's wrong for actors to monopolise the ageist thing.

The work I like to do is the work I'm most afraid of.

Anyone who has to be accountable in a time when resources are shrinking, where transparency is necessary, where the pressures are greater, is going to find that it takes a toll.

'Tango' is very much an ensemble piece and I was devastated when I read the script.

I don't like comparing projects. I find it too difficult because I can't objectively look at a piece when I'm so subjectively involved it.