My family thought the fascination with acting was just another fad.

I'm proud of Lord of the Rings. I think it's a once in a lifetime role, and a once in a lifetime film. It was made with so much care and passion and meticulous detail and everybody was so behind it.

Listen to people and treat people as you find them. There's an inherent goodness in most people. Don't pre-judge people - that was me Mam's advice anyway.

I sometimes find that playing the bad guy, or villains, or psychopaths tend to be much more psychologically rewarding. And you can really push it, you can push the limits, and get away with it.

If you have a very good concept of your character, you can snap into it.

Lord of the Rings was just so much enjoyment. It was over about the space of a year that I was filming. It's one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done, so emotional.

I'd been trying for a while to get parts that weren't just the English bad guy, so it was quite refreshing to be playing someone who was a compassionate, decent guy.

I'm still Sean that me mates went to school with, not Sean the film star. And that's the way I prefer to be.

It was such an interesting character and the film really explored his friendship with Bond and how it all went wrong, so it was a very personal journey for both characters.

To be honest, you have to do a big Hollywood film to get enough money to do a good independent film!

I had no intention of being an actor. I was quite good at it. I was pretty capable at other things but never any good at anything.

God is an unutterable sigh planted in the depths of the soul.

Good comics gravitate to each other; you know who's your type of person by watching them onstage, hopefully.

Free and just political institutions are absolutely essential to the progress and development both of the individual and of the race.

I have heard of bloggers who don't accept awards. I accept them with open arms...why not? When we spread the love and gratitude around, we have more love and gratitude to give.

A true artist is driven by the never-ending desire to create.

I've never really been about looking good - I'm just bad at that stuff.

An insult is either sustained or destroyed, not by the disposition of those who insult, but by the disposition of those who bear it.

A single photograph is a mere fragment of an experience and, simultaneously, the distillation of the entire body of one's experience.

You should make an effort on stage because it's a performance. The stage should be glittery and camp, but I don't go down the shops in full stage gear.

I read a lot of biographies and books with an African background.