“As an actor you have total rights to privacy and mystery, whatever your sexuality, whatever you do. I don’t see why that has to be something you discuss openly because you do something in the public eye. I have no understanding of why we turn actors into celebrities.”

It’s fun to pretend you’re good at something you know you wouldn’t be good at in real life.

I was quite a shy child – not chronically, but I tended to blend into the background.

The thing I love about acting is that you can bring something very personal into the open and at the same time remain hidden because you’re always playing a character in a story that someone else has imagined. You’re always protected.

I love films. I love music. I love poetry and stories. All of that I feel… I sort of get very excited and fed by.

I can be shy, but I’m not really. I try to be better at overcoming these things people have said.

I used to collect knick-knacks, like wizards, trolls and little buddhas, and arrange them like precious things on a shelf.

I don’t think I am especially interested in celebrities, but I love talking about what is going on with people and why they do what they do.

The most amazing thing is when you find yourself watching someone in the café or something doing something weird. It’s amazing what people do, isn’t it, when you just look at them, when you take the time to look.

Dustin Hoffman also never does the same thing twice which is totally stimulating because you’re always getting something new from him. You never really know what he’s going to do next, so you have to be on your toes.

In film, I find it very useful always to do some preparation before you start rehearsals or start shooting, because there’s so much that’s against you on a film set.

I think being very thin has had a lot to do with how I’ve been cast.

The thing about acting is that it’s fairly random. At the end of the day you take what drifts past you or what’s given to you.

Keats himself spoke about how Shakespeare was capable of erasing himself completely from the characters he had created. As an actor, that is what I’m trying to do.

I’m not tortured and neurasthenic – I’m really not.

When I finished my A-levels, I assumed I’d be able to get work as an actor. But I couldn’t. I didn’t get an audition. Nothing. So I thought I’d better train and then the parts would come.

I do get stopped on the street, although rarely. And they always have something lovely to say.

Photography begins not in the camera but in the mind and the eye.

If a man will be righteous and equal, let him see, with his neighbour’s eyes, in his own case; and with his own eyes, in his neighbour’s case.

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.

I am and always will be a sinner. But that’s the beautiful thing about Jesus. I’ll always try to be a better person in the eyes of God. But I’m not all of a sudden stepping up on a pedestal and saying I’m holier than thou, ’cause I’m not!

I think it is incredibly important to be open and accessible and treat people fairly and look them in the eye and tell them what is on your mind.

We will suffer the moment we take our eyes off the End and get lost in the means.

Women think black is the most flattering color, but they’re wrong. Pink adds a cosmetic-like radiance and warmth. Black drains the skin of color; pink delights the eye.

Such a human waste, your eyes without a face.