My parents saw their job of parenting as their most important role in life, and I aim to aspire to that.
— Andrew Lincoln
Having children was a revelation - it's like going through a doorway, and everything is different forever.
There's a whole generation in England who think I'm American, thanks to 'The Walking Dead.' It's an interesting phenomenon of being an actor longer than 25 years because you can tell what people know you from.
I love acting. I just love it. It's in my bones.
Robert Kirkman can't bear it when I wear flip-flops. He takes pictures of my flip-flops and keeps sending them to me, like, 'What are you doing? Rick Grimes is not a flip-flop kind of guy.'
History turns me on. I was terrible at it at in school, but as I get older, I get more and more into it.
I've always wanted to work in America because of those brilliant east-coast political movies of the '70s and '80s - great scripts, wonderful performances, gritty urban parable.
I'm much more indecisive and a people-pleaser than someone who's willing to step into the firing line.
Even though I'm an actor, I'm a very bad liar.
I'm not going to pretend I'm some saint, because I'm not.
When you are an actor every day kind of morphs into one as there is no set structure to my job.
I like to think that I've got determination, and I'm fiercely protective of the people I love.
I think my wife has always been aware, whatever country we have been in, of my dramatic leading man status; a little too dramatic she would probably say.
When I was at drama school I wanted to do classical theatre. It just so happened that I did a film when I came out and I moved that way.
I dispute the idea that we turn into our parents. These children who have come into my life are unique beings. I don't think I am teaching my children anything, frankly. I think they are teaching me.
Guilt is never very far from Rick Grimes' shoulder. It comes with the package. He's a man who takes his responsibilities very heavily, not lightly.
That's what I always hoped for when I became an actor - that you would do something that people can escape to, find identification with and excitement in and be able to talk about it in bars, restaurants, and workplaces.
Changing diapers is one of the most leveling things that has ever happened to me.
There is nothing like mortal fear to galvanize a friendship.
If you love a character that gets killed, it's agony.
People are always invading your personal space on set, especially on 'The Walking Dead.'
When I see a friend play Hamlet or see an inspirational performance, I absolutely get excited by the idea of changing things up.
I always want to go to the movies and watch something and be moved by something or feel things.
I would find myself getting deeply distressed if I lived in hindsight all the time.
I spend my working life pretending to be someone else.
Atlanta is an incredibly cool city.
Just to have the opportunity to play an American in America is a dream come true for me.
I wasn't a great student. My brother is 18 months older than me, so he sort of forged the way for me at school.
The thing that I love about Rick Grimes is that he pulls himself off the canvas even when he has been pummeled to the ground so many times. And either he gets up by himself - he drags himself up - or he is helped up by loved ones around him.
If a fantasy, if a story can help you feel something, I think that's really cool.
Guilt is an emotion that is never very far away from Rick Grimes. He's a man that shoulders the responsibility, and it's one of the forces that keeps pushing him on.
You never think about your own mortality. At least not until your back gives way when you're 40.
My No. 1 responsibility when I'm not slaying zombies is being a parent.
In western culture, we have ignored death. We're running the other way - everything is about life and youth. So, there's something resonant about walking around with our own death masks. Zombies are the visible embodiment of death staring at us with our own faces.
I love science and that time in history when science and the humanities were the same thing.
I just do my day job and go home and plant trees.
I don't really have any regrets because if I choose not to do something there is usually a very good reason. Once I've made the decision I don't view it as a missed opportunity, just a different path.
The whole vanity aspect of building up different muscles - I have no interest.
I'm like a magpie. I use lots of different things to build a character.
I don't feel that fear is a good incentive on a film set.
