Harriet Walter

“Acting is what I do with who I am.”

“Work has been the central column for most of my life; it has always been my identity.”

“I just like watching people who really are not self-conscious, who aren't aware, because I fear that one could become too self-conscious, too artful, as an actor. Sometimes if you look at somebody, you can extrapolate from their exterior what might be happening in their interior. I'm nosy.”

“I've found a much better love life in older age.”

“I've one of those brains that doesn't quieten down.”

“Some people are instantly brilliant. The Kenneth Branaghs of this world are ready-formed actors at 23 - he has used his success in lots of different ways - but there are people out there for whom acting is: 'Ooh, I can get on the telly and be famous.'”

“As long as I am still interested and curious, I enjoy getting up in the morning, but I can't say I have a happy smile on my face 24/7.”

“I'm no longer the young woman I was playing before, and I'm in a profession where that continuum that is me is irrelevant to most people - they're meeting me for the first time, seeing me for the first time, and they're seeing an old woman, so that's what I've got to start being.”

“I've done a lot of Shakespeare over the years. You start to realise how the plays fit together; he's always using pieces from one and slotting them into others.”

“I read, I gossip, I do crosswords. I think chatting with friends is relaxing. I've picked them up all through my life - if you live long enough, you end up with quite a large circle.”

“Cleopatra was exhausting to play, but also completely exhilarating. She creates her own energy.”

“I do think that there are certain parts, if you are lucky enough to play them, that are bigger than you, and they stretch you. I don't think you become a bigger person, but you develop certain muscles you didn't have before.”

“My strangest experience was my six words in 'Star Wars.' I've had more fanmail from that than anything I've ever done.”

“I've been blessed with pretty strong stamina and healthy genes, so I'd call myself sensible. I've had regular mammograms ever since I found a lump in my breast when I was 30. Thankfully, all was well.”

“Caring less about what people think is a big thing for me.”

“As I have got older, I have become easier on myself. It's about realising things can't be perfect.”

“I think I have a deep-seated fear of being misunderstood. Or being misjudged.”

“Where does an actress go after playing Cleopatra's magnificent death? Why didn't Shakespeare write more - and more powerful - roles for mature women?”

“I vote, but I don't feel that I'm achieving much when I do.”

“I've witnessed the survival of the theatre several times when it was meant to be dying.”