Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I feel as proud to be Jewish as I feel to be black
My first love is a wonderful script. It's the story.
Theatre has always been ahead in terms of colourblind casting.
I'm not from an acting family. I'm from a working class family.
I love the industry I'm in, and it's been really generous to me.
I can't, for example, Google myself, because I am very sensitive.
I just get offered a lot more work in America than I do in Britain.
Anyone can play anyone in Shakespeare. I don't think there are limits.
To get an award for something you are having a ball doing is a real buzz.
I never suffered anti-Semitic racism because no one thought I was Jewish.
My main form of exercise is my bike. I dont have a car, so I cycle everywhere.
My main form of exercise is my bike. I don't have a car, so I cycle everywhere.
It was a dream to be on Broadway as a kid, so to actually end up there, I loved it.
Being a character actor, I can go on until I'm 70 or 80; I'm not bound to the way I look.
I never watch anything I do. I really would rather just not know at all how I come across.
There are just more roles for me in America. Sadly. Because I love working in Britain. It's my home.
The repetition of the theatre means you've got the time to get deeply inside the person you're playing.
I'd hate to lose the character actress part of me, because, by God, the parts are much more interesting.
I always try to think of positive things to say about the people I portray, as it's more helpful for me.
My life is not nuts. I hardly ever watch television, I don't go out very much, so I don't really know what's going on.
As a black actress, all I was offered in British film was the best friend role, whereas in TV I was offered a whole spectrum of parts.
I do love being an actress. The other stuff, the 'fame', well - you know what? - you don't actually have to buy into it if you don't want to.
As a black actress, all I was offered in British film was the best friend role, whereas in television, I was offered a whole spectrum of parts.
When I take on a role, all I tend to do is get to know the script and ask millions of questions, and keep fine tuning what I think the character is trying to say.
But I'll tell you what I'm really bad at: I don't concentrate on what I'm doing, so I constantly lose things. I put my purse in the fridge - I'm one of those people.
The tried and tested becomes very boring. There's no way that the British equivalent of a Bryan Cranston would get the lead in a British equivalent of 'Breaking Bad.'
If the writers all come from the same backgrounds, you are going to get the same sorts of characters. Get a broader variety of writers, and you get a bigger range of stories.
I like having the script before I start. With new plays, you're constantly developing as you're doing it. It's really frightening. You don't quite know how it's going to end up.
As a child, I certainly wanted to have hair that I could grow long and flip around. I no longer want that. My own hair that I have day to day is a fuzzy afro. And that's who I am.
I dont like going for more than a year without doing theater. I dont mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel Im open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.
I don't like going for more than a year without doing theatre. I don't mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel I'm open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.
I am not a practising Jew, and I am not embedded in Nigerian culture, but I have a sense of those things inside me, which is very handy for acting. There are a lot of things I can draw on.
I've told lots of lies in my life. I try not to lie, but I still do. It's very difficult to get to 37 and not be ashamed of something you've done. But I think your life is easier, ultimately, if you're honest.
The photo shoot I always feel a bit embarrassed about because I don't really know what to do with myself, but they usually don't use a bad photo, so you can't worry too much. So my main concern is that I just look a bit more like myself.
There is a lot more opportunity now, and I welcome all the conversations we are having about diversity, about women and about class... I come from a very working-class background, and I think the class thing is still probably more tricky.
I find it so all-encompassing when acting that there's no room for anything else when you're in it; you're just locked into thinking about it all day, you go to sleep with it, wake up with it, and when I come back, I really need time to recover.
I get offered loads of unusual stuff. I just don't do loads because I like staying at home a lot, and I'm a little bit lazy. I don't get that thing of going from film to film that people do. It would drive me nuts, and that level of fame is quite scary.
Sometimes I really need the money, really need to go straight to work. But if I had the absolute choice - money no object, my mortgage paid off - I'd really just work once or twice a year - but wouldn't everybody! - or at least do a different job sometimes.
Im drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. Im not saying I dont love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because Im always struggling with it myself.
I'm drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. I'm not saying I don't love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because I'm always struggling with it myself.
I am rather partial to Shakespeare, though I haven't done loads. But when it's done right, there's nothing like it. There are layers upon layers upon layers, and you unpack new things constantly. I don't know how he knew so many things - about the world, about women, about human nature, life, death, our fears and hopes.