- I don't like going for more than a year without doing theatre. I don't mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel I'm open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.
- But I'm pretty secure about who I am. Anything that's truthful I'm not ashamed of.
- When I do things that aren't very good, I'm worse as an actor. I don't know what I pick up - but it's something not very nice.
- I'd hate to lose the character actress part of me, because, by God, the parts are much more interesting. As a black actress, all I was offered in British film was the best friend role, whereas in television, I was offered a whole spectrum of parts. I'd love to be able to follow that through into my newly-formed film career which I didn't expect to get at 36!
- I'm drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. I'm not saying I don't love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because I'm always struggling with it myself.
- Without hammering you over the head with it, the movie gets you to ask questions. That's what good movies do.
- I'm just going where the stories are. I'll quite happily work in a tiny theater in the middle of nowhere if it's the right story. It always leaves a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth when I do something purely for money. I always end up being absolute shit in it. I'm not really an actor who can make rubbish writing good. Some people are very good at it. It's a real skill.
- [on being awarded the OBE in June 2010] The cherry on the cake and way beyond anything I would have imagined for myself.
- Being a character actor, I can go on until I'm 70 or 80; I'm not bound to the way I look.
- The repetition of the theatre means you've got the time to get deeply inside the person you're playing.
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