My earliest acting memory is making up a play for my mom and dad called The Lonesome Baby. I have no idea what The Lonesome Baby was about. I just remember the title. But I`m sure it was an epic.

Mike Leigh encourages you to choose a person that you know to base your character on. You write a whole list of people that you know and you go through that list in great depth with him. And then he chooses one of those people from your list.

[On her 2 year break]: It made me realise that housewives are interesting to be with too.

I just find it thrilling, especially when I totally lock in to the person that I am doing and I`m really flying... I suppose I am hiding myself when I sing as these other people.

The character was so desperate herself that she related to all those singers. I particularly like those singers. They were my favorites.

When I think of Marilyn Monroe, and achieving her sound, I think of having a rather large bust. I think of her physically and I am just able to create her sound, because her physicality was so much to do with her sound.

Mimicking people was something I did already.

I find singing as somebody else very liberating, it just frees me up.

I don`t really like using my own voice.

I don`t think that I want to meet any of the icons. I don`t think that anybody can quite live up to your expectations.

I think that if you idealise someone for so long, they can only disappoint and I wouldn`t want to be disappointed by those people.

I found that I could make people laugh doing people like Shirley Bassey. Fortunately it worked.

Usually, certainly British singers, adopt an American accent when they sing and I think that usually people are thinking of somebody else, but I just think of very specific people.

If you`re still acting when you`re old, there`s something wrong with you.

My own singing voice is not very good and I don`t think that anybody really sings in their own voice.

The first thing that I do for a character is choose the voice. I try and think of someone that I know that`s like that. And then just work around.

I can`t read a note of music. I just do it all from ear.