Casting directors now just see me as the hard-core sniper or prison guard.

Casting directors tend to be the unsung heroes in this business.

There are casting directors with lots of imagination, but also some with not as much imagination.

In some cases, the casting directors have casted blindly and have not looked into my ethnic background.

Even when they have a star that they're going after, casting directors love, if anything, just the excuse to see people. They like to have a dugout full of actors that they can go to.

I had a role in 'Crossroads' when I was about 21, and then I went on to perform in 'Small Change' and then 'Piaf' in the Donmar Warehouse, London, and it was when I was there that some casting directors spotted me.