Childhood has definitely been invented hasn't it? I think that's because people had children later and we appreciate and cherish childhood a lot more.
I had a great start in television; the first thing I did was an episode of Performance called The Entertainer with Michael Gambon playing Archie Rice.
I use my awards as doorstops. Others are in the office or in little cubbyholes in our library - they go between the books because they actually look like arty pieces.
I use my awards as doorsteps. Others are in the office or in little cubbyholes in our library "? they go between the books because they actually look like arty pieces
Every time at any point of my life I think now is always the best age to be.
I love theatre because it's just me and the audience. It's the litmus test in acting to be able to sustain a performance over one two or three hours.
I was lucky to learn early in life that you need money for food and shelter but there's no ambition in having money in the bank for the sake of it!
America is such a nation of suppressed emotion and when you arrive in L.A. you can smell the fear. It's the most alien country I've ever been to.
I listen to Radio 4 all the time. I didn't go to university so that's my further education.
I can sleep anywhere! I can come off stage during the interval of a play lie down for four minutes then wake up feeling better.
There are a lot of little lessons that can be taught around the home without sitting a child down and boring them to death with your philosophy of life!
To be honest my husband and my children are my best friends.
Theatre is liberating because it only works if it's truthful - that's what it requires. That's not true of film: the camera does lie.
I've become more confident as I have got older. I care less what others think.
As I've got older I feel more confident in my body so wouldn't want to tamper with it.
People are not considerate of others. They tend not to consider themselves as all living together but see themselves only as individuals.
If you're constantly frightened of being unhappy how bloody exhausting must that be?
The benefits of feminism for someone like my husband are fantastic. He can stay at home with the kids he can take them to a park he does the school run.
If you think you are beautiful in a scene you will come across as beautiful. I don't think looks are important; I think what's important is if someone is sexy.
Actually I'm looking forward to being 50. Because to me that's when a woman is at the pinnacle of her femininity and her womanhood.
I think change is good because it teaches you that it's nothing to be frightened of.
So often when you meet child actors they're weird - they're freaks. No I mean it they're really odd people.
I love London and it's a privilege for my children to grow up here.
A perfect weekend in London has to start on Friday night by going to the theatre the Donmar or the National. It's a cliche for an actor but I enjoy going as much as possible.
When I was 14 I told my mother I intended to be in the House of Commons in the morning in court in the afternoon and on stage in the evening. She realised then a fantasist had been born.
It's what people create that makes my heart stop.
A script is only as good as the director who's making it.
What interests me about life most is people and the why of the world. That's what theatre looks at: it examines life and gives it a cohesiveness that life doesn't have.
The only time I ever spend alone is when I am working or when my husband is away filming. I put the kids to bed and have an hour and a half in the evening for myself.
I was very lucky. I left college and Richard Eyre was in charge of the National Theatre. I was offered the lead in 'The Seagull' with no experience and went on to do five plays there.
My own parents were very un-neurotic so I never thought that I had to change enormously in order to become a parent.
I spent my teenage years in Paris when my dad was stationed there and I'd look at women in their forties and think 'That's the age I want to be.'
I was a real art freak when I was a teenager.
I used to say that theatre was my favourite thing. But the more I do film the more I appreciate it.
Literature is reflecting what is happening in life. More and more women are having relationships with younger men. It's partly that women are not losing their figures now.
Working in films there are hundreds of odd moments.
I'm a very positive person. My grandmother taught me that happiness is both a skill and a decision and you are responsible for the outcome.
I'm half Scottish half Welsh and I regard red hair as perfectly ordinary. And to set the record straight contrary to reports he has never referred to himself as the 'Ginger Ninja'.
I feel as though my life is bathed in golden sunlight. And the really wonderful thing is that I know it.
What really matters to me is what my peers think.
You don't learn from good people - they've found what works for them and are completely original; you learn from the people who are bad. You think: 'Oh dear I'm not going to do that.'
I've often sat down with people talking about a film I've been in and they haven't realised I was in it.
I think it's very important not to grow up with the unhealthy amount of attention that is sometimes put on people because they are 'actors'.