What training have you received?
I did a lot of theatre training when I was younger with the National Youth Theatre, the National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth and various companies. At 18, I studied Acting for Film at the New York Film Academy centre in Paris. While there I spent every free minute I had working on student films. The best training for me was working, watching myself, and learning from the mistakes and the successes. That, and watching ridiculous amounts of DVDs.
What kind of roles attract you?
The roles that attract me are unusual, challenging and the type other people might not want to play because they are too strange. I would have liked to play everyone that Christian Bale, Helena Bonham Carter and Kate Winslet have played, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s role in MYSTERIOUS SKIN, pretty much all of Kirsten Dunst and Penélope Cruz’s roles and then maybe someone in Green Wing. I’d love to play an actual person—Blondie or Janis Joplin or Marilyn Monroe. I’d love to tell stories about women. So much film is male-dominated; most of the good characters are male. SCHRÖDINGER’S GIRL was great because the lead female wasn’t just someone’s love interest. I get interested in films for where they’re shot too—I want to travel, and I’d like to work in French.
What’s the best advice that you’ve been given as an actor?
Be ready, take risks, and keep learning all your life.
Most significant moment in your career so far?
The moment we wrapped on SCHRÖDINGER’S GIRL. It was such a shock. Nothing had sunk in until I heard “Picture wrap!” and I thought, “Oh my god, we’ve made a film!”
You’ll die happy when…
I’ve worked with Gregg Araki, Pedro Almodóvar, Michel Gondry and Jean-Pierre Jeunet; have had a long, varied career; learnt my whole life about humanity, human beings and why we do the things we do, and portrayed it sensitively and to the best of my abilities onscreen; become fluent in French; learnt at least a bit of Spanish, Italian, Arabic and guitar; read lots; travelled extensively; loved passionately; lived honestly and reached at least 110. ■
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