With fantasy and sci-fi, it's based in a real fandom. You're presenting to experts, and their source material is really important to them.

There's nothing more exciting for an actor than a chance to lose, to be someone who has lost - especially if it's someone who starts off with a veneer of control. To be broken is wonderful.

I am very much a seat-of-the-pants actor. I will prepare when I have to. But I like being unprepared.

There's a perceived inverse relation between looks and talent. Look at Charlize Theron - she made herself ugly for 'Monster' and suddenly everyone said 'she's a genius.' It shouldn't be like that.

People do seem to think that I'm going to be some wicked witch, and then they're always surprised to find out I'm just a little clumsy nerd.

I don't think you should feel guilty about pleasure. Defeats the purpose.

I worked in Tesco's staff canteen because I fancied a boy on the tills. I served him his lunch in a hairnet and tan tights. Not just that, of course - I had a lovely white onesie.

I love being physical, but I am extreme either way. I can be superfit. And then I can be really lazy and ignore everything.

I do what I do; I cant control who thinks what.

I hate being looked at. Can't stand it. I know, I know - I picked the wrong career.

I'm sort of like a T. rex in the world of female actresses. Every time a job is finished, I look at my car and think, 'Could I live in it?

Christians should use their prosperity for the glory of the kingdom of God

There was nothing in life harder or more important than agreeing every morning to stay the course, to go back to your forgotten self of so many years ago, and to make the same decision.

One of my ambitions has been to go back to what those great authors were doing then ... to bridge that sensibility of old Victorian Gothic tales and reconstruct them in a modern way.

Is every moment of our lives built into us before we're born? If it is, does it make us less responsible for the things we do, or is the responsibility built in too?

The tragedy of our time is that we've got it backwards, we've learned to love techniques and use people.

I practice three hours daily on my violin so I won't get worse.

Don't write too much. Concentrate your sweat on one story, rather than dissipate it over a dozen.

You can have all the riches and success in the world, but if you dont have your health, you have nothing.

Lots of times it really doesn't matter what notes you play, but what notes come before and after a run.

Words without experience are meaningless.