Because I was starting out in my 20's. I wanted to do it on my own. I didn't want to use my dad or have people say I was using him.
A lot of young filmmakers bring their movies to my dad because he always gives lots of good editing ideas and notes. He'd be a good film professor.
I was a sickly baby and after two sets of adoptive parents took me home they returned me to the orphanage because of a serious respiratory infection. But as they say the third time's a charm because my mom and dad adopted me and took me into their home where I was raised in a family full of love.
I'm worried because of my mother she's going to see my performance and she's quite hard. She's going to see me naked. And my Dad woah. Yeah they're going to see me like a woman you know?
I think there's nothing better than laughing in life so that's nice to be thought of as someone who can make someone laugh. It's 'cause I think life is hard. You know my dad was a really silly man. A great Irish silly man. And that's fine.
And my dad wanted me to play the trumpet because that's what he liked. His idol was Louis Armstrong. My dad thought my teeth came together in a way that was perfect for playing the trumpet.
Whenever I'm in theatre situations I will go out of my way not to talk about my father but in the film world I can be really proud of my family and say 'You know what: my dad's a really really famous theatre director ' because nobody has any idea.
I was just a kid and I didn't have a dad. That's hard because when you're a kid you blame yourself for everything. And I blamed myself for him not being around for my parents not being together.
I knew that I needed to do something that I desperately loved. There was a period where I did question if it was acting because I knew that I would be making things hard on myself. I knew that there was going to be a little bit of a hullabaloo because of my dad being who he is and all that.
David and Dad didn't get along too well growing up. I mean we all got along but it was harder on David because David wasn't going to be the son that Dad wanted. But now they're like best friends.
You can' t help being a musician because you've grown up with music yet being one means being compared to your dad and being slated for it. But I really don't have the ambitions of most people going into the industry.
The music I want to hear in my head sounds somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Massive Attack. It's not really like my dad but there will always be similarities because we have the same vocal cords and I learnt the guitar the way he taught me.
I did rebel. I was the rebel in my family because my dad wanted me to go and just travel with him.
I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.
It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.
Dad was just an emotional wreck. He was drinking a lot of the time he was smoking a lot of pot. And because he takes certain medications the drinking was making him... you know he wasn't even present really.
I think he would have been proud and smiling... when we laid him to rest because his family was together. I think that was a great gift to be able to give Dad at the end.
My dad doesn't get any of my jokes. He laughs at them but he doesn't understand them. He's just laughing because people around him are laughing.
In the 'Garnethill' trilogy people always forget that Maureen O'Donnell's dad was a journalist and she did art history at uni and her brother did law but no-one ever thinks they're middle-class - they're just working class because they speak with accents.
My dad has been a big influence on me because he's always had his own business. He really taught me business sense and how to be a focused individual but also how to have fun and make everyone around you have fun.
I can definitely tell when mum has got money because then she likes to go shopping to spend it whereas dad is steadier and avoids splurges. I like to think I've inherited both sides.
My dad? He died when I was 19 which is a bad time for your dad to die because there's an awful lot of things you have to resolve with your parents past your teens if you've been a difficult teenager.
I often talk with other actors about that time when you've just finished a job because I think you do take on the characteristics of some of the characters you play. Sometimes it can be a great thing and sometimes it's a bit haunting because you're not quite sure how to leave it on set. My dad talks about it as being 'de-personalised.'
My dad said if you become a tennis professional just make sure you get into the top hundred because you have to make a little bit of money. You make a living so you can pay your coaching and you know your travels.
Everyone should have a moment with Ron Howard in their life to give you faith in our industry.