When I was 19 I made my first good week's pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked.

My gosh I love food. If I wasn't an actor I could be a completely different body shape right now.

The term 'serious actor' is kind of an oxymoron isn't it? Like 'Republican party' or 'airplane food.'

Fitness will be a major factor in the first race and I think that will play into the hands of drivers who have been racing recently rather than people like me who haven't raced properly for a decade. I'am not one of the favourites to start with.

One of the things I've always enjoyed is moving around and staying fit. Physicality is such a big part of being an actor but it's also about stillness and silence.

With Alexander's cancer I was definitely brought to my knees for the first time because of the fear factor.

I was horrified when Richard Chamberlain and Rupert Everett said gay actors should stay in the closet. They were saying to people that they should live a lie and not be liberated to live in fear of being found out.

I fear other actors who are not prepared. And I fear directors who are afraid.

There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point as an actor when you do know better and that is when the fear starts.

Fear anxiety and neurosis: that's just in the suitcase when you're an actor.

Gun crime is a major cause of fear and distress throughout the UK. The problem is deeply entrenched in a wide range of social and cultural factors and therefore not an isolated issue.

Only a fool does not fear actors but you can't beat them and if you can't beat them join them as they say. As I've got older I've become very interested in that part of the work.

The fear factor actually brings the genuineness.

When you reach a certain status in Hollywood you have to play a lot of games to stay in the limelight. It becomes more about being famous than being an actor.

I'm really in no danger of being perceived as a famous movie actor!

I became an actor and because I had success as an actor I became famous. I was acting for quite a while before I got famous television made me famous. I guess that it's television that is responsible for everybody's desire to be famous.

It's not a matter of becoming a superstar. Fame and money aren't the purpose of all this. No actor's going to say 'I don't want to be famous.' But the main purpose for doing what I'm doing is the passion in the work.

I don't feel I was ever a 'famous' child actor. I was just a working actor who happened to be a kid. I was never really in a hit show until I was a teenager with West Wing playing First Daughter Zoey Bartlet. In a way that was my saving grace - not being a star on a hit show. It kept me working and kept me grounded.

I think there are a lot more writers who are actors than you know they just don't have roles on famous TV shows that you recognize.

I think actors are divided into two groups: one that wants to be an actor to become famous and rich and the other that wants to be an actor because they have to be. I'm more in the second group.

I don't have any expectations as an actor and being rich and famous is not my driving force.

There's so many things I want to do. I want to work with great filmmakers great actors great scripts. And there's no reason for me to do anything short of that because I'm 24 I don't have a family I don't need to make tons of money and I'm not dying to get famous.

The excitement for me lies not so much in interviewing the hard-to-get famous person but the person whom you are about to discover. You know like maybe the character actors who are just coming into their own and you're realizing how great they are.

I don't know how to construct a career that'll make me famous. Except maybe get my ears pinned back get my teeth done and go to America. But then I'll be competing with billions of actors who haven't got false teeth and who are 25.