Never give up. You only get one life. Go for it!

I place an enormous premium on loyalty. If someone betrays me, I can forgive them rationally, but emotionally I have found it impossible to do so.

Proving yourself in a field where the casualty rate is so notoriously high is an ongoing challenge.

Actors always think that others are getting more work than them. In my case, they usually are.

Always have an answer - even if you change your mind five minutes later.

Ensure that your script is watertight. If it's not on the page, it will never magically appear on the screen.

I am a very judgmental person. Of myself and other people. I recognise it's a great fault, but I have no power over that.

I don't think it's the case that 'posh actors' get more work than others.

I like fixing things.

I watch TV all the time. Everything.

I would love to play your common, everyday guy, but I never get cast as that.

I would still like to go to the moon before I die.

I'm a hoarder.

Well, it's true that I've never been solitary, although I spend a lot of time alone. I've never felt lonely or been shy.

When I came to England, the first director I met was Charles Sturridge, who told me, 'You speak like somebody out of the 1950s.'

You feel your game's raised by working with the best people.

Anthony Hopkins says you just keep acting. Do it all the time and eventually it will happen. He got his break, after all, by taking a role nobody else wanted. A cannibal!

I am drawn to writing and directing as it is most like the feeling I had when I was a teenager with my puppet theatre. You are more in control of everything and involved in every aspect of production, so more challenged and fulfilled.

It always depresses me when people moan about how commercial Christmas is. I love everything about it. The tradition of having this great big feast, slap bang in the middle of winter, is an essential thing to look forward to at the end of the year.

My father died prematurely at the age of 52 when I was 24, and it is a recurring regret that he never lived to see me succeed beyond university and drama.