“Pantomime is a big thing in the cultural calendar of my country, you know. So subtlety’s not my forte.”

So if I’m swirling around on some wires, talking to Fred Flintstone, I make it the funnest I can. I also want to be good at it. I don’t want to be a crap cartoon character. I want to be proud I’m a vitamin!

Working with good people is always good.

Kids are more genuine. When they come up and want to talk to you, they don’t have an agenda. It’s more endearing and less piercing to your aura.

I was so scared of going back to the theatre after Hamlet. I didn’t know if I’d do a play again because I was afraid of the power of it.

Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues it can begin to feel commonplace and eventually acceptable.

The thing with film and theater is that you always know the story so you can play certain cues in each scene with the knowledge that you know where the story’s going to end and how it’s going to go. But on television nobody knows what’s going to happen, even the writers.

I’m quite good, though I say it myself, at making strangers feel at ease.

I had to be a grown-up when I should have been a little boy, and now that I’m a grown-up my little-boyness has exploded out of me. I’ve lived my life backwards.

There are some days when you don’t feel like being Alan Cumming.

Macbeth was the first play I ever read.

My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that’s a good grounding for a balanced life.

Performing a one-man Macbeth feels like the greatest challenge.

Some things are just really difficult to do. That’s what I find hard. I usually can find a way to do a character to make it real and work. But sometimes it’s a struggle sustaining that, because there’s such a level of personal involvement and personal, physical, and emotional distraughtness.

I started to itch to do a play again and ‘Macbeth’ came to the surface in my mind. I never thought I would do it in a conventional way. A sweaty Macbeth with blood on his arms coming in fresh from the battle doesn’t interest me.

When you’re on TV, you come into people’s homes. In theater and film, they go to you – to the temple of the cinema or theater. And it’s very different.

I usually can find a way to do a character to make it real and work. But sometimes it’s a struggle sustaining that, because there’s such a level of personal involvement and personal, physical, and emotional distraughtness.

Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.

The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.

A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy.

Dream the impossible. Know that you are born in this world to do something wonderful and unique; don’t let this opportunity pass by. Give yourself the freedom to dream and think big.

For me, it’s not about breaking big in Hollywood, but having interesting experiences.

Once the mind has been expanded by a big idea, it will never go back to its original state.

The war between my mind and my heart has been the biggest destruction of my peace.

The world’s most sensible person and the biggest idiot both stay within us. The worst part is, you can’t even tell who is who.