Good writing shouldn't be wrapped in cellophane. It should be open to the elements and full of maggots and it should be left to grow and deepen and fester.
— Zawe Ashton
If I was someone who wanted to do just love-interest roles then I'd be in a difficult position. But thankfully I'm someone who likes to do things that are edgy and different.
Episodic TV is notoriously brutal because just when you think ‘I've got this, I know this character' you can pick up the script for series four and you die in the first episode - or your character suddenly transitions from a woman to a man.
I've had times in the past where I wanted to give up acting, get my head out of the arts because it was like my constitution couldn't deal with it. My job means I get judged on my looks; I get discriminated against because of my sex; I take on roles that are so two-dimensional... you can go mad trying to fill that third dimension.
I'm not really concerned about being liked on stage - I'm a bit more concerned about it off stage.
I have a very short attention span.
It has taken a long time for me to really dress as the artist that I am: I'm an indie girl, I like experimental, I like things to be subverted. Details are the fun part.
Tennessee Williams moves my soul.
If there's one person I looked up to obsessively, it was Will Smith. There wasn't anyone who looked like me on TV in England. 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' was my touchstone.
If you cut me open I bleed East London.
I've always wanted to live somewhere extremely nice like Sloane Square… although that would probably be too nice for me.
I want to be a successful actor, never a famous star. Because one is an organic meal that will sustain you, and the other is toxic.
The actors I admire always have something to say, or a level of poetry, belief, activism or intelligence about what they do or how they feel.
Being yourself, or being judged as yourself, is really scary.
From the outside, some people might consider me a hipster!
In the future, the idea would be to create work for myself, as a way to work up into my 80s if nothing else. But also, I want to cast my friends in things or people I saw who weren't working and I'd be like, 'Why aren't you working, I don't understand - I'll write you a role in something.'
It's such a difficult thing for women, especially, to admit when we're not coping, because we're supposed to be all right with all the different roles we're born with and are piled on us later on.
I used 'Saved by the Bell: The College Years' as my reference point really for my 'Fresh Meat' experience.
I know I'm different and I don't fit in to any kind of generic mould.
Art should be for everyone, not just the rich.
No-one tells you about being in episodic television and it ending. No-one tells you how painful it is. How bizarre it is when you've dedicated your life to one character for five years.
I've always acted, it's my passion and belief system.
It's wonderful that newer brands such as Fenty are making clear statements about being for all skin tones.
I like clothes that feel fresh and surprising.
Art galleries are the best first date spots for my money.
The first stage play I ever did was a school play called 'The Wishing Chair.'
When you work in film sets, when you're working on projects that are male dominated, you are always treated as the last priority.
I'm a keen experimenter in the kitchen. With food, not with anything else!
The widespread shame of motherhood is criminal, and it needs to stop. The world can never improve if you disrespect the people that bring life.
As an actor you can always blame the director or writer for negative feedback. But as a writer, you're the reason why everyone's in the room.
I do always try and do work that I'm going to be interested in talking about when it's released.
My dad constantly tells me I should calm down, but I feel so sad when I see places I've known since I was a child closing. I burst out crying when a local pharmacy closed the other day; it's just going to become a shop that nobody has much of a need for. But I am trying to move with the times.
Secondary school was a lot harder. That was probably my hardest time. Some of the girls were really nasty. I had to move schools because of the bullying there.
I just always play these really extreme characters - they've all come with parental guidance stickers on them.
Mum got me involved in every activity under the sun - singing, dancing and drama classes at the Anna Scher theatre school.
I'm someone who likes to explore the complexities in people.
I love writing with pen and paper; I hate technology.
I've had doors slammed in my face, I've been shouted at in my face in meetings when I've stood up for myself.
If people call my book an actor's memoir I will be very upset. I can't bear anything too literal, so it has elements of truth and elements of fiction sitting side by side.
What a character wears and how it affects their mood and their movements has always been very important to me. A character's clothes, if they're truthful, can make audiences feel something.
A lobster roll and a few glasses of fizz and I'm happy.
I'm Hackney born and bred and find it hard to call anywhere else home despite the extreme ongoing gentrification which gets me down.
I actually grew up around the corner from where Harold Pinter did. If you want a snapshot of my childhood, me and Pinter, we essentially grew up together.
I've never lived in north or west London, so I'd like to come out of my comfort zone for a bit. But Stoke Newington is where my heart is, it's where I'm born and bred.
How long have we got to talk about women of colour and imposter syndrome. It's a real thing, and many people have it. It's, I think, a particular characteristic of the overachiever. Because you're bottomless, you never think what you've achieved is enough.
I would like to have a baby.
My mum took me to see 'The Wizard of Oz' when I was about three and I was blown away.
I don't tend to go into any job thinking about the audience reaction.
Honestly, the life of a serial character on television, I'd love to write an essay about it.
I got into a habit really early about not talking about work, ever.
