Listening and hearing are two different things, and acting is comprehending what the person is saying, thinking how it makes you feel and responding. That's the key to really honest, truthful, compelling performance.
As we mature and grow older we collect a lot of baggage, and a lot of that stuff you collect on life's journey gets in the way of acting. My kids can imagine a character and transform in the blink of an eye. It's so simple for kids, so complex for adults.
I was 11 when a teacher suggested to my parents that they should send me to drama classes to curb my disruptive ways in the classroom. The next Saturday I was acting, and thereafter it became a ritual of my youth to see a show at the Belvoir on Sundays and, if I was lucky, another at the Opera House on Monday after school.
Some people would say I've made it now.
I'll never forget anything about Middle Earth. That's part of my memory now so I won't miss anything.
I'm becoming a frustrated director, I think, in an actor's body.
My life at the moment is a bit like my wardrobe. Organised chaos.
I always loved putting on shows - when you're the youngest of seven and five are older sisters, you've got to get noticed somehow! I did puppet shows and magic shows... even ventriloquism. My doll's name was 'Dan,' and I used to write these scripts, and my schoolmate hid under the table and supplied Dan's voice.
Id love to work with the people who really got the film industry going again through the 70s: Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Gillian Armstrong, Fred Schepisi.
In all honesty, if somebody asked me the secret of auditioning for Americans, I don't know. Often, I do what's called self-taping for America. I go over there quite a lot to sit in a room and do stuff in front of people. You feel like a performing monkey. It's bizarre.
I think actors do make really, really wonderful directors.
In very general terms 'Top Of The Lake' is about good and evil. It's a deep dark mystery. It also deals with lots of fascinating human relationships, and it's also about the battle of the sexes.
I do regard myself as very lucky.
I would love to direct a feature and have Robert Connolly produce it. That would be really fab.
I've ended up spending more time in front of a camera than on stage, but the stage is where I come from.
