The Americans just have a great sort of wit about them.

I think the periods of being unsuccessful have made me a better actor.

Shouting at people keeps you alive, healthy, young, fresh.

What you're doing is acting with yourself. Well, I'm my favourite actor, so in a way it's quite straightforward for me.

When I was acting, I was always asking abut the mechanics of filmmaking. I decided I would learn what everyone on set was doing, so I would feel less threatened.

A little showbiz never hurt anyone.

Being asked to play 'The Doctor' is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can't wait to get started.

If I had gone to drama school, I wouldn't be sitting here now because it would have blanded me out; it would have just turned me into another actor.

The biggest thing I have realized was that you have to choose your collaborators very carefully, and that not everybody can like you. The process of filmmaking is so difficult, there's no point in doing it unless you can do it the way you want.

I don't like parties. There was never a party I was at where I didn't wish I was somewhere else.

I've been really terrible in a lot of things because I learned by making mistakes. That makes you a different kind of actor, because you have to figure out for yourself what you do.

I could never plan to have a career that went this well... you know, there were times when it didn't: when it went into the toilet, or ducked, or was difficult to get moving.

My family know not to get me any tech for Christmas. I can never get it to work, and it all becomes very tearful and pressurised.

Real heroes are all around us and uncelebrated.

A girl once came to my beery flat in Kensal Green, opened the blinds and cooked me breakfast. I married her.

Drawing is the only thing I've found in which I can lose myself completely. I love it. It started as something that relaxed me, but now it's a struggle because I'm pushing myself. The day-to-day sketching is fraught.

It's a good thing to be old. Because when you get older, that means you haven't died yet, right? And when I do get older, I want to have the grace to be proud of it, not to lie about it or try to fight it.

I hope that I will be able to work all of my life - even when I am older. It's easier to do that in Europe than in America, because in America it is difficult for older actresses to find work.

I love ballet, and it's a little boring for me to go to the gym because I'm used to the dancing discipline - it's really hard but much more fun.

There was a point where I was making four movies a year. I was always on a set. I had no stories to tell. I was feeling empty. My life was just luggage and hotels and from set to set, from character to character. And one day, I said, 'And where is mine?' You know? And the moment I started to feel that fear, I stopped and I slowed down.

I never felt, 'Oh, I think I look good.' I always tend to be more in the insecure side. And I thought that has always been a way to protect myself. Because I don't trust the good feelings that can come from that.

I have fear, always, on the set. Insecurity to the point where the first week I always think I could be fired. I think that's a fear most actors have.

My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it's about pain, in whichever form it comes. I had a lot of energy as a child - sometimes too much - and I didn't know how to channel it. It was making me suffer. It was bigger than myself, and I was very young.

The thing that really makes me happy is the real work and rehearsing and creating the character and the process of making the movie. Hollywood's not real.