When you see a good horseman, you're unable to tell where the instruction is coming from. It's like telepathy.

There's a huge raft of roles that actors in our culture perform, and you can see any one of about three Hamlets in a year. It's not something to be completely daunted by.

The armoury of having any academic education does not necessarily set you up for being a good or better actor.

I think with any characterization there's a point where you empathize, no matter how much of a deviance his or her actions may be from your understanding of humanity.

Our daily lives are so mundane, we get taken over by what is immediately in front of us and we don't see beyond that.

If people ask, 'Are you Sherlock Holmes?', it's horribly naff, but I say, 'I'm not, I just look a bit like him' - which is how I feel. There are bad attributes of his that I really don't share!