The repetition of the theatre means you've got the time to get deeply inside the person you're playing.

Being a character actor, I can go on until I'm 70 or 80; I'm not bound to the way I look.

As a black actress, all I was offered in British film was the best friend role, whereas in TV I was offered a whole spectrum of parts.

[on being awarded the OBE in June 2010] The cherry on the cake and way beyond anything I would have imagined for myself.

I'm just going where the stories are. I'll quite happily work in a tiny theater in the middle of nowhere if it's the right story. It always leaves a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth when I do something purely for money. I always end up being absolute shit in it. I'm not really an actor who can make rubbish writing good. Some people are very good at it. It's a real skill.

Without hammering you over the head with it, the movie gets you to ask questions. That's what good movies do.

I'm drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. I'm not saying I don't love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because I'm always struggling with it myself.

I'd hate to lose the character actress part of me, because, by God, the parts are much more interesting. As a black actress all I was offered in British film was the best friend role, whereas in TV I was offered a whole spectrum of parts. I'd love to be able to follow that through into my newly-formed film career which I didn't expect to get at 36!

When I do things that aren't very good, I'm worse as an actor. I don't know what I pick up - but it's something not very nice.

But I'm pretty secure about who I am. Anything that's truthful I'm not ashamed of.

I don't like going for more than a year without doing theatre. I don't mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel I'm open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.