I plan on having a long career. I don't want to burn out.
— Zawe Ashton
One of the first plays I ever did was at the Royal Court Theatre in London; it was the first play I got after drama school.
Patsy Ferran in Tennessee Williams' 'Summer and Smoke'-I thought that was just one of the most phenomenal performances I've seen from a young woman.
I'm training in martial arts. It's a whole new world for me and I'm loving it. I do that or hot yoga; I have to do some kind of exercise.
When I'm doing a play like 'Betrayal,' I have to be careful not to get stimulation overload.
I was very fortunate to have had three years on 'Fresh Meat,' before working on 'Not Safe for Work.' Comedy drama is a very hard genre to nail so I was very glad to have had some practice.
I'm not really sure what defines 'success in the real world' to be honest! It's so objective once you graduate, some people work, some people start families, some go looking for themselves up mountains in Peru.
As a director I would love to work with Marion Cotillard. She's so magical.
I do consider myself an artist.
What sometimes annoys me about the arts is increasingly that we have to put real people on screen or stage.
Often when you're working on dark material, the atmosphere is fun.
If I'm wearing the wrong clothes I can't think. It sounds so weird but it just has to be the right fabrics and like the right feeling on my body.
I'm just coming to terms with the fact that I will always do lots of different things and I can't really stay in one place too long.
Living with the notion that you might never have a permanent spot in the world is really quite a powerful metaphor.
I hate using the word ‘dark' for things that are negative.
When you're an actor, wealth is about choice.
I had a meeting a while back with a big group of women - actors and producers and writers - who are all ethnic minorities and we just aired what we thought was happening and why, and someone said that, as a black or mixed race actress, you feel like you're renting space instead of carving out a career. But I'm just going to get on with it.
As a woman, you do have a sense that if you can do other things, then you should. If you feel, mmm, the roles are getting a little repetitive, and you know you can write, then you should write a different role.
Don't worry if you're interesting enough or beautiful enough or any of the 'enoughs.'
The first film I ushered was Lynne Ramsay's 'Morvern Callar.' I started at 18. Best job in the world. Blockbusters, indie films, classic matinees.
Each project you do demands a different diet in a way. Because there's so much tension in 'Betrayal,' so much holding of breath and emotion, I can't get too happy in my food choices or I can't get alert enough.
For me, the banner that I want to wave in terms of giving a jump start to writers of any gender is just to make female protagonists as complex as their male counterparts.
Todd Solondz is a film maker I've always loved because of how he balances darkness, humour and surrealism in his films.
My real life memory of leaving Uni is an overwhelming excitement to be going home but also a weird numbness.
My drama teacher when I was a kid called me ‘Zawe the activist' and I had no idea why. Now I've got older I can see why she always saw that in me.
I'm a card-carrying existentialist.
I love the visual medium of film and TV. I love the science of it, working with the sound and the lighting and every aspect.
I wanted to quit acting and as soon as I decided that, the call for ‘Velvet Buzzsaw' came through.
I do think about moving out of London a lot, whether that's L.A., whether that's Margate with half of the other Hackneyites.
I don't want to be 'de-ethnicised.' I hate it when people say, 'Oh I don't even think of you as a woman,' or, 'I don't even think of you as a black woman.' Well what do you think of me as then? A loaf of bread?
I didn't grow up with a lot of role models necessarily when I started out - there weren't many people who looked like me on TV. Not in England.
The chasm between independent film and commercial film is now so wide. You either have to be super-famous and get a first-time director or writer's indie script off the ground, or you're a newcomer and go and put a cape on for four years.
I hate talking about class, but the truth is as an actor you're only going to be doing some really great work if you can afford to be out of work and take the good stuff. If you can't, you're going to be treading quite a different path.
Dreams of a Life' and 'Fresh Meat' have left me on such a high. I'm not complaining but I'm not complacent either.
Relief is not a word that ever enters my mind, about anything.
If you're looking for reps, write letters that are short and professional. Make sure you have a really great reel of yourself. If there are friends you know who are making short films, do them - it's all material for your reel.
Anyone who's been an usher knows it's a training in resilience. But you get such a film education. And the popcorn's free.
For me, food is all about nostalgia.
I prefer to avoid the phrase 'strong women' when talking about female characters and the lack thereof or the need therefore, because it's not about being strong, it's also about being vulnerable, funny etc.
I'm doing a play at Trafalgar Studios with The Jamie Lloyd Company - 'The Maids' by Jean Genet with Uzo Aduba and Laura Charmichael, directed by Jamie Lloyd. It's one of my favourite plays by one of my favourite playwrights.
I don't think there's a part that I've played or something I've written or directed that hasn't smacked of 'The Wizard Of Oz.' It's the film all roads lead to for me.
I think there's still a feeling within society, entertainment aside, that women are less funny than men.
I always play outsiders. I think I'm carrying a lot of those characters and I wonder if I play them because those characters need an extra element of thought to bring them to life.
When you get to do things you love with every fiber of your being, it's a different experience.
I have no idea how to ever sell myself in a snazzy way.
I hate when there's a band that you've loved and you go and see them and it's like only the really new experimental stuff from the current album.
I think I've always felt that I want to do a very specific type of work and I've made informed decisions. You know, hopefully be part of a quiet movement or revolution.
Some people shun the idea of role models but I think it's one of the most important things people have in life - role models, to look up to.
I think anyone who has been bullied finds it life-affirming if you live to tell the tale. I just wish someone told me at school that there's this weird average whereby if you're not popular at school you will become popular later.
We live in a capitalist society and if we're talking about the people at the bottom of the food chain, it's women of colour.
