"Acting is something you didn't do in Ireland." — James Nesbitt

When I turned 40, subconsciously, life was a blank sheet. Before, it was disjointed, and I was very displaced and quite mad, but it was a brilliant time. Everyone thinks I must have been unhappy.

I never forget that I'm extremely fortunate.

If you are a Northern Irish actor, maybe subconsciously more than consciously, you do have an instinctive responsibility at some point to tackle the recent history of where we have come from. It's not only a responsibility, but a privilege.

I've got a history in my life of difficult times.

My best friends are still the ones I first attached myself to when I went to school because, all of a sudden, I was leaving the rather pampered and occasionally very annoying world of having three older sisters to go to a male-dominated world.

Unification is less important than the fact Ireland is now conflict-free.

Belfast is a city which, while not forgetting its past, is living comfortably with its present and looking forward to its future.

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Acting is something you didn't do in Ireland.