Damian Lewis

“I suppose where I am sort of reflects the work I have chosen to do. Are there occasional frustrations because I can't work with a certain director because it's a big studio movie, and I don't have enough of a studio profile? The answer is yes. But generall... generally, I have the career I have chosen myself.”

“You know, this idea of going around the world imposing democracy by growing a middle-class, a trading merchant class that is independent of your faith, is a good notion, but we're all partially different - it's no good imposing systems on people that it doesn't suit.”

“Of course the lower classes have always felt downtrodden and aspired to a better life. But there is this theory that people respond to a class structure in England - there was a time when people knew who they were and knew whom they served and as long as management wasn't abusive, it was a good life for people.”

“I have a three-year-old and a four-year-old at home, and my mornings are about just dealing with the fact of that. I oddly enjoy it.”

“I investigated post-traumatic stress disorder. I've been to a unit where people are suffering from it, and I read a lot of literature. I looked at footage of soldiers in the combat zone. I found 'Restrepo' to be unbelievably useful.”

“Would I have traded 'Homeland' for anything else? No. Would I trade 'Billions' for anything else? No.”

“In the end, there's something of the puritan work ethic about me that roles really must sustain me on an intellectual level.”

“If you believe - which I do - that acting is a bit like advocacy for your character, then of course I want to find the positive points.”

“My parents came to see me in a play at Eton when I was 16. And then, when I said I wanted to try for drama school, they knew there was enough passion there for them to be brave and back me.”

“Dramatically it's always more interesting to conceal rather than reveal things.”

“I'd feel guilty just doing gags.”

“I want to make a clear distinction between people who take acting seriously and people who call themselves actors because they've been on reality TV or something.”

“You have to go where the good writing is.”

“I'm no more or less antisocial than the next person.”

“Temperamentally I'm not a natural producer, because I don't have the patience.”

“It's sad that children don't spend enough time looking around and being amazed by what's in the real world.”

“Fallible characters are more interesting than superheroes in the end.”

“There is a latent anger in a lot of people that went to boarding school at an early age. I was eight. And I loved it over the five years, but I think the adjustments for eight-year-olds are a lot. And I think it informs who you are for a long, long time.”

“When I'm working in America, I wake up with an American accent and stay with it all day till makeup comes off. I just want everyone to be at ease, and not have the show's creators think, 'Oh my god, he's so English, why did we hire him?'”

“I am Damian Lewis, not Daniel Day-Lewis.”