I have such a dancer's spirit that I tend to leap around the house. Once I leaped onto my bed and landed on the floor. But I danced more for myself than I did for other people.
There are times when I watch Jurgen Klopp leaping around after Liverpool have scored and I think to myself: 'I wish that was me.'
I hope to one day co-sign a lease with another person but, well, it doesn't plague me that I have yet to do so. Put it this way: I've never had to violently tug at my own pillow at 2 A.M. to get myself to stop snoring.
I personally go to the airport looking like a homeless person, because I think people will leave me alone. But I dress myself with my luggage - all my luggage matches.
Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.
Once, a makeup artist put a little gold highlighter on my Cupid's bow, and it accentuated the lip colour and brought the whole makeup look together. It was just a little thing, but I loved it. I do it myself now, but I have to double check myself. I'm like, 'Is this too much?' You don't want to be leaving home with a big glob of gold on your face.
Garrison Keillor's 'Lake Wobegon' books create a world I can immerse myself in over and over. I love the deadpan humour, the warmth, and the wonderful characters in The Sidetrack Tap. I discovered them when I was about 30, starting with 'Leaving Home' and 'We Are Still Married,' and fell in love with the place and those flat Midwestern vowels.
Everybody made mistakes for years, but by making them, everybody learned - myself, the franchise, coaches, players, LeBron, everybody.
When I lecture, under almost all circumstances, I write a new lecture for the occasion. It helps me think. It helps me make demands of myself that I would not otherwise make.
I did a year at Leeds, studying English. They basically threw me out, because I was taking too much time off to act. So I transferred to the Open University, because I could do it all online. By that point, I had admitted to myself that I had the acting bug.
My whole thing is I try to balance it as much as possible. I love to enjoy food. I've always said that if I eat healthy during the week, then I give myself more leeway to have some fun on the weekends. And I stick to the gym. I try to go five to six days a week.
I'm sure people think that I'm out in left field you know, playing by myself.
My parents are left-wing, and I would describe myself as that. But also, you know what? I wouldn't describe myself as that. Because I don't have to. Because I'm not a political party. Most people are a little bit of each, and we change our mind on various issues.
I taught myself how to play when I was about 13. I'm a lefty.
Honestly, I've been asking myself how it would feel to be Princess Leia since I was seven years old.
Vivien Leigh was a phenomenal actress, a very complicated woman, living on the edge of mental problems, haunted by demons and angels. And though I've never thought of myself like Marilyn Monroe, I was inspired by the tremendous risk she took - of being vulnerable.
I had two starts, really. The first was going to the Italia Conti stage school, aged 15. I'd gone to sing, but one day I found myself doing an improvisation and thought, 'Oh God, I quite like this acting thing.' The second start was meeting Mike Leigh when I was 22. He showed me I could play people that weren't like me.
I love research. Sometimes I think writing novels is just an excuse to allow myself this leisurely time of getting to know a period and reading its books and watching its films. I see it as a real treat.
I pride myself in figuring out how to elevate a dish with a little preserved lemon or, then, a sprinkle of Maldon salt.
I have two choices: Sit at home and feel sorry for myself, or make lemonade out of lemons.
