I prefer being as far from the centre of celebrity as possible.

The older you get the more capable you get at managing life.

There`s not much room for eccentricity in Hollywood, and eccentricity is what`s sexy in people.

I have absolutely no empathy for camels. I didn`t care for being abused in the Middle East by those horrible, horrible, horrible creatures. They don`t like people. It`s not at all like the relationship between horses and humans.

``Los Angeles makes you feel ugly. I`m not going to pretend I haven`t secretly wanted to be super-skinny, because all girls do.But I have a woman`s body, not a boy`s body. Most women do and should feel proud of their butts and their breasts and their bellies.``

I think mystery is kind of great. I don`t know anything about Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn or Ava Gardner - not really - and I like that. I love watching their movies because they`re my personal movie stars. I don`t know what they eat and who their trainer is.

As Ralph`s character begins to discover the political thriller aspect of the film, he falls deeper in love with his wife, so the two run together. That`s the beauty of this film. It has fast pace and excitement, but it also has heart and soul.

It is a political thriller. It`s very action packed and it`s very exciting, but at the same time it`s a very big soulful love story about longing and loss. They`re not separate, they`re completely dependent on one another.

Well, I think you and I have always felt the same way - that we`re Jewish but we can get away with just being exotic. We`re kind of Jews in disguise.

`Oh God, don`t make me come across as a moaner. I think it`s unacceptable to moan about anything when you`re lucky enough to do what I do. What I`m trying to say is I`m more settled now. The thirties have calmed me down. I know who my real friends are, I know what I want to do. In your twenties, you just do everything. It`s just overload all the time. In the thirties, you learn that it`s OK to go to bed early if you want.

You know what, I have faith in people. I think people want to see something new and different. They don`t want to see anything that they`ve seen before. They don`t want to have it worked out in the first 10 minutes how it will end. I think people are really smart and sophisticated.

I`ve never felt uncomfortable with my level of fame. I don`t get hassled. Maybe sometimes in a minor way, but New Yorkers are much too cool for that. The thing is, you choose to be an actress, but not to be a celebrity.

I`m not one for parties and stuff like that. I get a bit nervous around lots of people. Being invisible is what I really enjoy. That I find quite entertaining.

The celebrity thing... I don`t want to sound as if I absolutely don`t want it because that`s not true. If you`re in the entertainment business, you have to be honest. There`s something alluring about it...

[Talking about Darren Aronofsky] I guess the first impression was that I`d been a big admirer of his work, and then I met someone who you`d never have put with that work. There was something very refreshing about that. I thought I was going to meet someone who was very intense and weird.

People find out I`m an actress and I see that `whore` look flicker across their eyes.

I have absolutely no empathy for camels. I didn`t care for being abused in the Middle East by those horrible, horrible, horrible creatures. They don`t like people. It`s not at all like the relationship between horses and humans.

I sometimes do worry that actors are people`s role models, you know. And doctors and teachers and people doing really important things just get paid nothing. And they put us on the cover of magazines. They should be our heroes. I find it all a bit dubious.

You just have to play every scene honestly and forget about a reaction and what the audience is going to think. I think the more seriously you take something, the more funny it might be.

If it`s bad dialogue then I would think of nothing worse than the camera lingering on me and the person I`m talking to for fifteen minutes.

It`s also that comedians don`t have the kind of narcissism that actors have. They`re writers who perform their own material. It`s more interesting. And they`re sexy because they risk more. Stand-up comedians risk more than anyone.

God no! I hate it, absolutely hate it. I can`t stand it, it`s such a drag. So I just tend to wear the same things all the time. I don`t like change anyway. - on shopping

I moved to New York last year and I love it. It`s a huge change and I`ve always wanted to spend time there. It`s like a more intense London, and everything`s up a few notches. The lights are brighter, the pace is faster and the food`s better.

People find out I`m an actress and I see that `whore` look flicker across their eyes.

I find Hollywood really toxic.

In reality, the main thing that keeps me awake at night is probably the destruction of the planet; that`s what gets me pretty upset.

I don`t do too well there. If you were brought up in London, where you can walk around everywhere and there are theaters, you can`t really do LA. I couldn`t make a life there. You`re in a car all the time, and there are no seasons.

I`m very wary of talking about statements. I`m a storyteller, I`m an actor, an entertainer.

L.A. makes you feel ugly.

When I`m playing a character, I use the American accent. But when I go back to England, I just glide right back into Englishness immediately. Every actor uses a dialect coach. Every actor, and if they say they don`t, they`re lying. Everybody does, yeah. You don`t want to worry about it. You have someone listening out to check that you`re not straying.

They`re very harsh critics and they`ve often said to me: "That was shit, you were crap`, but this is the first time [after he saw her as "Amy Foster" on Swept from the Sea (1997)] my father said to me: `I think one day you`ll be a good actress"-- on her parents.

I was advised by an American agent when I was about 19 to change my surname.

I`m a bit superstitious about certain things, like what shoes to wear. If I wear the wrong shoes, the whole day may go wrong. Or if I don`t get to the bottom of the stairs before the door closes - stupid little things like that. Then I also have all the normal ones, like don`t walking under ladders and so on.

That was me under the bath and the water being held down. The director wanted it to look as real as possible so he told Keanu, in front of me, don`t go easy on her. So it was scary.

Working with someone like Dustin Hoffman is a huge honor and, after you kind of get through that, you`re frightened about working with a screen legend, and I was just in awe.

I find Hollywood really toxic.

I`ve always been fascinated by activists, people who will devote their life to a cause, people who go to India and to Africa and put their life in jeopardy to do what they believe is right.

In L.A., unless you`ve just won an Oscar or you`re Mr. Studio Head, no one talks to you. Even at parties.

If I`m just in dungarees, I don`t think I would intimidate anyone.

I think actors have a choice of drawing attention to themselves or living on the outskirts.

I found myself a sophisticated, educated American. He`s not an actor. He`s traveled the world. He knows where Europe is, unlike a lot of Americans. He`s very cultured, but he`s all man.

I think London`s sexy because it`s so full of eccentrics.

You have to be quite stupid to act.

If I went out in killer heels and full makeup, blow dry, the whole thing - anyone dressed up like that could be intimidating to men and women, really. It`s so, look at me. Do you know what I mean? But I love women.

There`s a lot of contemporary actresses I admire, but there`s practically no one who`s made a color movie whose career I`d want ... I don`t feel very modern at all.

As a child I was the best tree climber in our neighbourhood, I was like a little monkey. I`ve never been afraid of hurting myself or a little physical discomfort.

I don`t believe your soul mate has to share your politics.