Catherine Tate

“At my core, the glass isn't half-empty - it's not even what I ordered in the first place.”

“Putting TV stars in plays just to get people in is wrong. You have to have the right people in the right parts. Stunt casting and being gimmicky does the theatre a great disservice. You have to lure people by getting them excited about a theatrical experience.”

“I used to go red when anybody spoke to me. It's awful because you absolutely cannot control it. If you are a child that blushes, or is shy, the one thing you want in the world is to be the child who comes in and says, 'Hi,' to everyone and goes up and makes friends.”

“I'm not frightened of a bit of silence.”

“Writing comedy is an exposing thing because you're putting yourself on the line with every joke you write, and although you can't second-guess an audience, if you want to be successful, you have to write stuff people like.”

“Don't take criticism personally; take from it what's useful. Apply it and move on to something better.”

“Because I was a shy and awkward child, I used humour to deflect attention. It was a controlling mechanism. Because I could use it to control my image.”

“I've never really thought I'd get married. It's not that I'm suspicious of it or anything like that, it's just that I don't have a reference for it because my mum wasn't.”

“אמא שלי עזבה את אבא שלי כשהייתי בת שישה חודשים, אז אני בכלל לא מכירה אותו. לא היו לי דמויות גבריות בחיי.”

“אז, באופן לא מודע, גרמתי לעצמי להפוך למצחיקה, כך שזו תהיה התווית שלי ולא התווית הג'ינג'ית או בעלת הפנים האדומות.”

“כיוון שהייתי ילדה ביישנית ומגושמת, השתמשתי בהומור כדי להסיט את תשומת הלב. זה היה מנגנון שליטה. כי יכולתי להשתמש בו כדי לשלוט בתדמית שלי.”

“לשים כוכבי טלוויזיה בהצגות רק כדי למשוך אנשים זה לא בסדר. צריך שיהיו את האנשים הנכונים בתפקידים הנכונים. ליהוק פעלולים וגימיקים עושים עוול גדול לתיאטרון. צריך לפתות אנשים על ידי כך שגורמים להם להתלהב מחוויה תיאטרלית.”

“I'm an incredibly negative person, so any form of success is only ever going to be a relief to me and set my default position back to neutral.”

“There's no game plan when it comes to thinking up new characters; inspiration can come from anything - from a wig I've seen to an expression I've heard someone use.”

“If I hadn't had a baby, a part of me thinks I might have turned up on the red carpets all the time and gone, 'Hi, it's me!' Maybe other people do it because they haven't got kids and they've nowhere else to be. But because I have, I don't feel like that.”

“I don't know why, but people tend to look at stand-ups and think they can act, which actually isn't the case. But never mind. I thought: if that's the area where they're looking, then that's the area where I'll put myself - even as a means to an end. And it was.”

“I've realised I need a gnawing, nagging, anxious doubt when I wake at 4 A.M.”

“I will absolutely say that whatever job I was asked to do, whatever schedule I was asked to work, it is never going to be as hard as looking after a child.”

“Although I was a shy child, I was also a bit flamboyant.”

“It's never been a point of reference to look to a man. It's not always a good thing, I suppose, but I think independence is always preferable to dependence.”