What makes me really happy is a walk in the English countryside. A nice sunset, that British countryside - it means I'm home.

I get accused of having a haughty smugness. I have a lopsided mouth. I can't help it. I was born with it. It looks as if I am smirking. I have had my publicist tell me, 'Don't do that smile on the red carpet.' I'm, like, 'That's my smile.'

I'm always open to trying out new things.

Sometimes a woman's looks or sensuality are too readily wrapped up in their power.

I have been to Canada several times. It was autumn when I visited Vancouver, and I will always remember the colour of the trees in British Columbia were stunning.

Shaving half my head was a look that meant I could go punkier with my style.

Madonna is completely down-to-earth. She's an absolute professional.

So many little girls dream about their wedding day. But with actresses, sometimes it's the inverse, because we get to be the centre of attention, looked up and down, dressed up for premieres all the time. The pull isn't quite as great.

The most amazing set where I've shot 'Game of Thrones' is definitely Croatia, in Dubrovnik. It's such a stunning country with lots of good watersports there as well. Just a beautiful, beautiful place.

I'm a quasi-only child. With my brother and sister, I've more of a tendency to be semi-maternal. So, yes, I spent a lot of time talking to myself - I had this big dressing-up box and would just dress up as lots of characters and talk back to myself... Verging on schizophrenia, I suppose, if you analyse it carefully.

I'm very lucky to be in projects that have such skilled writing in them.

Long skirts are annoying; they get in the way.

I've been spoiled rotten with the costumes I've worn.

When you have that long, flowing hair, you feel different - when you cut it, the framing of your face changes immediately.

My role as Ewan McGregor's girlfriend in the film 'Incendiary' ended up on the cutting-room floor, but at least I had two brilliant days of acting with Ewan.

I love watching the old movies. I love Katharine Hepburn. I just adore her and everything that she stood for. I find it interesting watching the likes of Gene Tierney and those classic movies of the '40s.

When I wake up on a Sunday morning with a slight hangover, in the gym with no makeup on, that's who Natalie Dormer really is. The girl next door who gets a spot on her forehead occasionally.

When I turn on the news in Paris, the way Syria is covered is different from the way it is covered in Washington, D.C., or London. Even in Western society, where we hold all the values of democracy and freedom of speech, as soon as you point a camera in a particular direction, there is an angle - literally and figuratively.

I meet fascinating people I respect and idolise all the time.

I love going out of my comfort zone - I live to go out of my comfort zone.

There's a real mischievousness about Irishmen, don't you find?

Travel is so important in its capacity to expand the mind. It's exciting to start as young as possible - you get to see how other cultures live, challenge your senses, and try different cuisines.

I couldn't pick just one defining breakthrough role. I like to think that they're all a part of me.

I love to drive. My present to myself from 'The Tudors' was a red Mazda MX5 hard-top convertible. I loved that car, and also what she represented - my first success.

My first time to Rome was when I was backpacking with my best friend around Europe for a month at 18 years old, so I remember that excitement of being away from home properly for the first time.

I've always been a history lover. I've spent a lot of recreational time walking around historical castles and estates, in Britain and Europe, and so I know what the real thing looks like.

A lot of boys in my poker circle are mathematicians who play on probability. I don't have that kind of brain, so I rely on instinct. But I recently found out that poker and cards in general go way back in my family gene pool.

There's a part of my heart that forever has Anne Boleyn written on it, who I played in 'The Tudors.'

Everything that I do to my own hair and makeup I learned from professionals.

I screen tested for 'The Tudors' in N.Y. That was my first experience of N.Y., being flown here to screen test with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. So I have very, very fond memories of New York - New York helped give me my first big break.

As an actress, I think it's important to look back and realize that we aren't always quite as original as we think we are. There's this grand, textured history for us over the last 100 years of incredible writers, directors, and performers.

Perfect is very boring, and if you happen to have a different look, that's a celebration of human nature, I think. If we were all symmetrical and perfect, life would be very dull.

For me, it's not necessarily interesting to play a strong, fearless woman. It's interesting to play a woman who is terrified and then overcomes that fear. It's about the journey. Courage is not the absence of fear, it's overcoming it.

My yoga mat comes everywhere. Keeps me stretched out after sitting still on all those planes, trains and road journeys.

Isn't it lovely to know that even the great Sherlock Holmes, the quirky and genius Sherlock Holmes, is vulnerable to love as we all are?

I think women have always been trying to look healthy. The makeup artists just teach you the quick cheats.

My party trick is that I can get ready to go to the party really quickly. I'm actually a woman that can have a shower, dry and style her hair, do her make-up and get dressed in under an hour.

Cutting one side of your head for a few months is not a big deal compared with what other people have to deal with in the world. Plus, hair grows back.

We don't have enough young, female antiheroes. We don't accept women as antiheroes the way we do the men.

Kids are very cruel to each other.

Jennifer Lawrence is just the coolest girl.

'The Hunger Games' has something for everyone.

I love my camera crews on all my jobs. It's the half of the job that the audience never gets to see. They're integral. They're as much a part of making a movie or television show as I am.

You can think what you like of Madonna - about her political choices and her PR - but you have to respect her courage not to let the critics stop her exploring her potential.

From my experience of shooting 'Tudors' on the island of Ireland, you cannot predict the weather.

I'm not going to comment about potential jobs in the future because that's a rabbit hole to go down and get caught up in, but all I'll say is I'll go where the good scripts are.

I was so excited to work with Ridley Scott. Who wouldn't be?

I'm quite physical. I'm from one of those dog-walking families where hiking up a mountain is meant to be fun.

Famously, Anne Boleyn was not a beauty: she was more about quirkiness and an innate sensuality, and there are a lot of references to her eyes. Which sends out a great message for women, because life is not about the aesthetic all the time.

We all need some TLC and to pat ourselves on the back from time to time.