I know people think that I always play these characters who are in control and can chop someone's head off with a look..

At school, I always wanted to belong to a gang, and no one would have me. So I'd have make my own gang, but with everybody else's leftovers..

I think in most jobs, you get better as you get older. You gain experience, you gain knowledge..

I don't want to have to be pretty. I don't want to have to be adorable..

The parts I've been most successful in are the ones I've desperately, desperately wanted..

I was terrible at school..

I find it very difficult to be two different characters at the same time - actress and mother..

As a younger actor you want to be approved of, you want to gain respect, be admired. All of those things. To say: 'This is me playing this character.….

When you make a film, you sign a contract with somebody, and it's not only legally binding but morally binding. You agree to give this man a certain ….

If you are a successful actor, which is what I am, then you tend to get labelled very quickly and easily..

I was happy, I wasnt beaten, and I lacked nothing. But it wasnt what people expect - it was very much sort of pinching and scraping. I dont know how ….

I've realised that I am who I am and that is it. Like it or lump it. I'm not around to please anyone any more, and it's a huge relief..

If you make a film about a pig farmer in Wales and you are a huge hit as the pig farmer's wife, the next thing is you'll be asked to do a film about ….

I love shooting French films because I don't have to stick with being sophisticated or stuck-up..

I really like acting in French. It's actually quite different for me, from acting in English. It's fun acting in a foreign language. You're liberated….

It's very hard having a career in different continents and two different languages..

I used to be so intensely preoccupied by unhappiness... now there are times where you might get down, but you can move on much faster now..

French is a foreign language, but I've been speaking it since I was 18 so it's second nature to me..

I try to make films that I find exciting. It makes me want to get out of bed at five in the morning, have my make-up done and play for the rest of th….

I just get so fed up with seeing the same things written about me. If I see the words 'ice queen' attached to me, I feel like banging my head against….

You have to think about whether that Mercedes-Benz you have is actually worth how much it costs to you..