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" I don't think I have had a big break, although joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986 opened up new horizons. "

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" Just observing - that's the best skill of all for an actor! "

" I worked as a clerical assistant at the Department of Health and Social Security for about three months before I went to drama school. "

" What's odd is that I've never been asked to do any comedy in film. That's something I could certainly do. "

" I adored being at the RSC and working on the verse and getting the iambic pentameter right. You just skim across the surface, and the speech is over before you know it. You can just ride along on the music of it. "

" It's funny: I can never sleep between shows; I think it's because I don't like to switch the motor off. I'll probably have some chicken or pasta, though never the two together, and maybe go out for a quick wander around. "

" Broadway has a lot more razzle-dazzle than the West End. In terms of the everyday work routine, it's not different, but there's a cachet about Broadway that lends itself to more anticipation among audiences. "

" It is the nature of the business that you work unsociable, unpredictable hours and can get called away at a moment's notice to somewhere on the other side of the world. This can put a strain on home and personal life. "

" Sometimes I look at Helen Mirren on stage and think, 'You really are the Queen.' You see people bowing to her at the stage door! "

" I started with the piano-accordion and rebelled against it, but I could not afford piano lessons. "

" It's a great luxury to have the writer with you on a new play because you can write and re-write, just trying to get the arc of the story, of their relationship right. "

" If you are feeling something, then Shakespeare felt it and wrote about it - and wrote about it so eloquently. "

" I went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art because it was the only drama school the social worker had ever heard of. Luckily, I got in at the first attempt. "

" As a young actor, I worked with Kevin McNally and have always thought him brilliant. "

" A live audience with live reactions feeds a different sort of acting that will then inform your film work, and vice versa. "

" It's funny: what one tends to think of as the best work you've done is not what other people think is the best you've done. "

" Theatre is what I've always done, really, especially with the RSC, but I do bits and pieces on TV. "

" For me, this profession is about having a career where you can go on working for 60 years, so I'm not particularly bothered by things to do with fame; I like to think that I just do what I do. "

" Experience tells us that whereas that degree of recognition can happen for one or two actors, for the vast majority it doesn't, so what matters is to try and be a better actor. "

" It is strange how your understanding of a play changes. It normally happens after a performance and you suddenly think, 'So that's what that line really means' - it's like a light going on. "

" In 'Notting Hill,' I was part of a whole plot line over six scenes that was completely taken out. That was rather depressing. "

" In my whole career, in fact, I can remember only two first nights when a show was at its peak on the first night. And I just wish we could devise a system where critics came not on a single evening but were given a choice of performances to attend. "

" Music has always been profoundly important to me. "

" There's a mythical status to the Tony Awards. When you're growing up as an actor, you hear about Broadway and the Tonys, but it's not something you ever expect to experience. "

" In England, I'm known for playing villains. "