My parents are both very funny but they're also relatively soft-spoken normal human beings while I'm just a lunatic. I don't know where this loud ballsy hammy ridiculousness came from. I'm just glad I followed my goals and my parents did too. It's not like we even had a plan when I dragged my mom to Los Angeles.
I filmed 'Albatross' before I got 'Downton.' It's a coming-of-age movie about this girl who leaps into this family's life like a whirlwind. She's ballsy and brash and wonderful it was such an amazing character to play.
Growing up in the '70s and '80s science fiction and especially fantasy had such a stigma attached to them. I felt so punished and exiled for being devoted to these things.