Quotes

I've worked for years to get the career I have now, so to find I need a break is quite disappointing!

I get very few nasty letters. A few from people who disapprove of the fact that I'm getting naked on television yet again. I don't know why - I suppose they don't like the idea that I'm doing that while I'm married with children.

Being rejected is not nice, and it never gets any easier no matter where you are in your career.

Our pool is outdoors, but it's heated, and I've got one of those machines that produces waves you have to swim against; like a jogging treadmill, really, only it's in water. Basically, it means you can have a small pool, swim for miles, and get nowhere.

The ability to suspend reality and go into a make-believe world can be really, really difficult if there's something really big going on.

It's always nice to have people say you're good-looking. But I do get told I'm not right for parts because I'm too good-looking.

Friday is my night for letting my hair down, and once a month a group of my old male friends will come down and stay at our house in Hampshire.

Working hard as an actor means you're doing what you want to do.

My parents didn't want me to be an actor. They didn't think I could take the rejection, and I have to say they were probably right.

What I really enjoy is when someone who I used to have a crush on, a female from my industry, comes up to me at a party and says, 'Oh, I've been dying to meet you. I've had such a crush on you.'

To be able to play Jack Kerouac or Sal Paradise, it's mad to me.

I know one thing - if I didn't have TV and theatre and radio, the world would be a much more boring place.

I did a bit of modeling before I took up acting, and I was up for this big campaign - I can't remember which designer - and all these execs were looking at my portfolio. Then one said: 'We'd like to use you, but can you come back next year when you've lost this.' And he tapped the underside of his chin.

I pay our nanny more than I'm earning.

I hate feeling full, so Christmas is about the only time I really stuff myself.

I've always taken a lot of exercise - I get a bit depressed if I don't. In terms of food, I'm a bit of a grazer.

I always felt like acting was something I could just do if I wanted, which was wrong.

You just worry that your time is up. It's not that people suddenly go, 'Oh, actually they're not very good any more,' but sometimes, well, your time is up. There are a lot of actors out there who just disappear.

I'm worried about losing my hair. I think if I lost my hair, I'd lose a lot of parts. And I don't want to get fat. I'm always worried about that.

I have two beautiful children, a wife who loves me very much and who I love - and my career is going well, too.

I've never boxed before in my life. I've had one day's training at a boxing gym, and it's an incredibly difficult sport.

If I see someone being treated unfairly, I'll say something, which has got me into trouble with producers in the past.

I was dropped from a show in the US, which wasn't pleasant. They sometimes recast shows if it isn't working. They got rid of me and the lead girl, recast it and it still didn't work but they did it quite unceremoniously. It's sometimes done in a cack-handed way. They imply they want you, then you hear from a friend they've got the job instead.

When I was about to leave drama school, I asked what the next year's intake was like. The teachers told me none of their first choices were coming because they couldn't afford it. Right from the kick-off, a lot of people who would have got in can't go, so only people from privileged backgrounds or those lucky enough to get funding go. However, I work with the biggest mix of people. A lot are speaking posher because that's where the roles are but there are people coming through from things such as Thể Xác (2007) or Misfits (2009). Those aren't public-school kids. It's more mixed now than it was 50 years ago.

You get a few days out of three years at drama school learning how to act in front of a camera. You have to learn to do TV on the job. It's important to watch yourself on screen. You've got to be aware how you come across. I watch it afterwards and cut away the things that don't work.

If you haven't got talent, you aren't going to get anywhere, no matter what contacts you have. There are lots of sons and daughters of famous actors who got nowhere, way more than those that have become successful. Growing up with actors, you're more likely to consider it as a career, so you get people trying it out who perhaps shouldn't. It's an attractive career - especially if your parents have done it successfully - but the reality is most people don't make a living from it.