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" I had a very peripatetic childhood, so I bounced around. Lived in Ethiopia until I was, like, three or four and then lived between Ireland and London. "

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" My family very much adored me, and at school, I was an object of fascination. "

" I've always been very talkative, very chatty, quite hyperactive. I grew up with a lot of cousins, and most of them were boys. Four in particular and I were the demolition squad. Havoc. "

" Ninety percent of my roles, I've had to fight for. It's only a really small percentage of people who get handed roles. "

" We all have as much right to take up our space in the world as one another. "

" I've gone into auditions, and I think they have an assumption about me when they see my photo, and then I open my mouth, and they say, 'Where exactly are you from? And you were born in Ethiopia? But you're Irish, but you also kind of sound English. That's really strange.' "

" I don't really know how strong someone is if they're compelled to a life of violence. Is that strong? No. That's damaged. "

" What I have wanted to do is take roles that are unexpected for people who look like me. Roles that the establishment would say, 'Oh, she couldn't possibly be that.' "

" I don't like the term 'colour-blind' - because I don't want people to be blind to my colour. "

" I don't trust anyone who doesn't change their mind. "

" Women always have to have this soft, maternal, sort of - I don't know - moral center. "

" I think kids are amazing. You kind of just deal with stuff, don't you? It's only years later that you have to spend thousands in therapy. "

" History is written by the winners. My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can't shout. "

" I think that is important, to not make people feel alien. "

" People ask me where I'm from. I say Ireland, and they are like 'Really? You don't look Irish.' Then you have to explain... people are intrigued, but sometimes you think, 'Why do I have to tell my whole story every time I open my mouth? "

" You can suffer for your art, and you can make your own self suffer for your art. You don't need anyone else to do it for you. "

" We need to have a conversation about the fact that black faces are not as visible as they should be, that there is huge inequality everywhere in terms of race. "

" My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can't shout. No wonder public-school people always get into politics or acting: they're taught to shout that much more loudly. "

" Sometimes, people know me from Marvel's 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' But that usually only happens in America. "

" You know when you're a kid and you get to pick a movie every Friday? I watched everything. There's no particular genre that was appealing. I just loved the idea that you could dress up and play. "

" I know I've said it before in interviews, but the idea that all actors have their eye on some sort of prize - it being an Oscar, or fame, or whatever - not all actors I know are like that. "

" I work best when there's a safety trampoline of kindness. "

" I become very territorial about my identity because it's been hijacked by so many people with their own projections. "

" Some people say to me, 'You don't sound very Irish.' It's because I have this tendency to iron out my accent: not because I'm ashamed of it but because it makes my life easier if I don't keep having to repeat myself. "

" I like connecting with people, and that's what good art is: a point of connection. There's nothing better, on stage or on film. "

" I had quite a scattered childhood. I was Irish in London, because I had my secondary school education there. I never really fitted anywhere. I didn't feel it was a negative thing, and I was never made to feel different - I just knew I was. "

" I trained, went to college, trained, and got a job. Then got another job. When I wasn't working I worked at a bar, then got another job. "

" I think if we don't understand history, if we don't keep referring back to it, we become complacent. And complacency, as we all know, it leads to repeating history. "

" I've always had sort of an interest in American history, full stop, and especially people who contributed to the civil rights struggle. "

" I didn't have that many black people in my life, so I had to sort of search them out. And I didn't grow up in America, but I identified as much with their writing about the black experience as I did with their writing about the human experience. "

" The god of theater laughs in your face at planning. You can't plan as an actor; there's no way, because so much of it is dependent on other people's choices and decisions that you're at the whim of fate, really. "