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" I always tell younger actors that if they want to learn the ropes, there's no better place to do it than right here in the U.K. "

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" At school, I was the classroom clown - I was always being thrown out for being naughty. Before I left, a teacher called me in and suggested I became an actor. "

" I can only appreciate the kind of work that goes into being a top drag queen. Ru Paul looks just astonishing as a woman. And he's got this fantastic turn of phrase. I find him hilarious. "

" I used to read comics as a kid, and now I'm reading them for research. It's great fun. It's not bad homework. "

" I am the youngest of four children - three boys and one girl. I don't think becoming an actor had anything to do with seeking attention, though. My relationship with my siblings when I was growing up was close and playful. "

" I try to ensure my daughters are not spoilt. They are very aware of how lucky they are and appreciate it. We have had some lean years, so they know it's not all about luxury, travel, and hotels. They are grounded, and I'm grateful for that. "

" I loved working with Mandy Patinkin, I have to say. "

" If you don't register to vote, politicians don't really care about you: politicians aren't really caring about what you have to say, what you have to do, anything. "

" You always want to look your best at events like the Globes, Emmys, or Oscars. It's a part of the business that I am not particularly comfortable with. I would prefer to turn up in a pair of jeans and an old shirt, but it's all about image - the studio wants you to look your best. "

" After 'Homeland,' I was offered a lot of very authoritarian, square, angry boss types, but I wanted to do something different. Casting directors are surprised when they look at my CV and see all the work I've done, from Shakespeare to playing Nelson Mandela. "

" Art is all about the experience. I could say I don't really relate to opera, but then you watch Placido Domingo, and you go, 'Blimey, look at that.' "

" To be on set with Tom Hiddlestone and Hugh Laurie is just fantastic. But during 'Homeland,' I was on set with Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, so I'm used to working with big hitters. "

" British people are surprised that I'm British! It's extraordinary, I get tweets every day from British people saying, 'I had no idea you were British.' "

" Before recording my 'Homeland' audition on my iPhone in my bedroom in Streatham, I hadn't worked or had an audition in the U.K. for nine months. "

" You have to have a certain single-mindedness if you want to reach the top of the profession, and I'm not sure if I've got that cold-eyed egomania that perhaps is needed to get to the top. So as long as I can keep paying the mortgage and keep myself interested, I'll be happy. "

" I always get this feeling on my last day of work that I'm never going to work again. "

" I loathe the word 'celebrity,' and I hope I'm not a diva. Whenever I see diva-ish behaviour, I just leave the room; I find it appalling. You should always try to be civil to people. "

" Back in 2005, the Anthony Nolan Trust could have asked me just to speak out about the lack of ethnic minority donors on the bone marrow register, but that would have meant nothing if I wasn't prepared to join up myself. "

" Everyone in America thinks I'm American - and everyone in England seems to think I'm American. "

" My black hero is and always will be Martin Luther King, not just because of the strength of his oratory but because his vision was very much the reality that I'd come to take for granted. "

" When filming for 'Beowulf,' we were close to Hadrian's Wall; there was no phone signal, and the scenery was spectacular. "

" Working with Olivia Colman has probably been the highlight of my career so far. "

" I love the stage, but it doesn't pay the mortgage. "

" I have always been reasonably anonymous, but I suppose that has gone with the success of 'Homeland.' I feel a lot more visible, which is good and bad. Good because I am getting recognition, but I am slightly apprehensive because I always enjoyed my anonymity. "

" I do know in the 1960s comics, Martian Manhunter took on the form of a black man - that could have been influenced by the political climate back then. "

" I'm very fortunate. I loved school and, when I went there, race, gangs and violence were not issues. There was a feeling, gone now, that you had to be presentable. If you hadn't combed your hair, older black ladies - complete strangers - would come up to you in the street and pull out a comb and straighten your tie. "

" If you're black and have leukemia, the chances of finding a donor are drastically reduced. I added my name to the register, and lo and behold, six months later, I was asked to donate. I had a week of 'conditioning' where I had to take these pills and injections to create new stem cells in my body. "

" Without a doubt, the majority of historical period dramas tend to be told from a certain perspective. At least in America, black people have some visibility in period dramas, although it's usually in the form of slaves or servitude. "

" It's pretty hard to stand in the queue auditioning to play a gynaecologist on 'Holby City' when you've just played Mandela. You think, 'Actually, I want to challenge myself.' "

" When there is enough food to feed everyone, why are 870 million people going hungry? We must learn to share what we have; no one race or nation has a greater right to life than another. "

" There was the 'Cosby Show' in America in the 1980s, which was a doctor in a beautiful Brownstone middle-class house. We just haven't created a role like that in the U.K.; it's always gangs and crime. We need to be brave. "