I'm more of a freestyle dancer. I like to do my own thing.
I was a tomboy running around in the garden. I used to play on a local cricket team. I grew up with all boy cousins, for the most part, and my brother.
I studied English literature at university, but for some reason we only spent one week on [Charles] Dickens, so I remember just trying to find the shortest book that I could find. I was like, "'Hard Times,' really great - it's short, that'll do it."
I'm small. I'm petite. But I'm a bit of a fighter inside. In my work I fight for, I hope, showing women in a true way. They've got brains.
Most of the time I was in the background. I never played [the Virgin] Mary. I was always kind of the third angel.
I do sort of appreciate Nelly's [Ternan] view that it would be woman who would suffer mostly from that - who would be ostracized. The rigid societal conventions meant that it was difficult to live outside of them.
I think good things come out of having tension with the people that you work with. You've got to be arguing in order to produce something interesting. If everyone's just agreeing with each other, you're not going to push the boundaries.
The British vice is overthinking before we speak, which is really annoying. I love the way that, in America, people are more straightforward.
The British vice is overthinking before we speak, which is really annoying. I love the way that, in America, people are more straightforward. The American vice would be sometimes speaking too loudly. You can always hear American people on the trains!
I want to be paid fairly for the work that I'm doing. That's what every single woman around the world wants. We want to be paid on parity with a man in a similar position. And I think it's important to talk about it.... It's brave of those women to come forward and make a point about it. Now younger actresses will have a confidence in those discussions with their agents and be able to say, "Can we make sure that I'm being paid the right amount for the work that I'm doing?"
I always had a very strong sense of independence. I really liked being able to buy my Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill album. I wore that as a badge of honor. I love not having to rely on anyone.
I love not having to rely on anyone.
There's so much of a desire in the entertainment industry for newness, a desire to build somebody up and then treat them as old news within six months. I think you'd be naive if you didn't try to hold on to your own way of doing things.
My mother was in the kind of late-sixties, early-seventies origins of female emancipation. And she was very much like, "You're not going to be defined by how you look. It's going to be about who you are and what you do."
I think in every character there are aspects of yourself that you bring to it. But then it would be really boring to just play yourself.
Of everything I have done, 'The Archers' always gets the most excitement; there's a sort of uncontrollable joy from fans of the program.
I always wear the shoes of the character a week before going on set; the idea of just putting on a new pair of shoes on the first day of filming is just horrific.
I use SPF every day, then apply foundation, mascara, eyeliner and blusher. I always take my make-up off at night and moisturize.
I don't like when I look too cluttered.
I've done a lot of very low-budget indie films, so it was just really exciting and fun to be doing a film where there's a lot more time and these huge, vast sets. I was like a kid in a playground. It was amazing!
Acting has always existed alongside my normal life. It's been a case of learning on the job. I've worked in so many styles, with so many people, so I've picked bits up from everyone and everything.
The key is working with great directors. A film is so many different people and all their talents, but particularly the directors, because of the idiosyncrasies of that person.
I'm very independent, creatively, always trying to push myself - and I think that comes from my mother.
You have to be brave and not always play likeable people. It's difficult, because there's a demand for the hero or heroine to be very likeable.
I always hope for roles that have some depth and that I can get my teeth into and that will challenge me, in some way.
