Kate Beckinsale

“What's considered ideal in Hollywood is completely different than anywhere else in the world. I don't think you can aspire to it, nor can I. Everybody is retouched, stretched, lengthened, slimmed and trimmed. I could look at a picture of myself from the past and think, 'Why don't I look like that now?' It's because I never have!”

“If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humour was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex!”

“Given that I can't sing like Freddie Mercury, obviously I'm not going to pursue it as a career. What would be the point?”

“Everybody likes the underdog, because everybody feels like the underdog. No matter how successful you are, you always think, 'No one's being nice enough to me!'”

“I dropped out of Oxford, and now I only speak Russian with the woman who gives me a bikini-wax. See what Hollywood does to you?”

“I think what's dangerous about being an actor who does action movies is you think, 'Well, I can totally handle myself now.' But if my opponent didn't know the other half of the routine, I don't know how well I'd do.”

“I would say probably my least favorite costume ever was in 'Van Helsing.' That was a huge pain because it had thigh-high boots with 30 buckles on them that had to be done up individually.”

“I was a very difficult child, and the time I spent reading was about the only peace I gave my mother.”

“Job-wise, I did have a moment of panic that I should have been a doctor a few years ago, but I hate when people vomit.”

“I feel like I've done a bunch of period stuff and then a bunch of romantic comedies.”

“Someone once said that you can make the choice between getting old and getting creepy, and I think getting old is the way to go.”

“I don't tend to do much with my lips. My lips are naturally very pink, so if I add any more colour, it looks like I've been smacked in the mouth!”

“If I ever have sex with someone I might be able to develop a sense of humor.”

“I feel like I flunked at adolescence really badly. I found it really difficult.”

“Obviously I've had great experiences with people I've worked with on films - I've married half of them! I should come with a warning sign that says, 'Don't worry, I'm not going to try to marry you. I'm done.'”

“I don't have a big career plan. I just like to see how things come out, and I just try to keep going in different directions.”

“No one really knows who I am or where I came from in America, and there's something quite nice about that.”

“I didn't go looking to marry an American, it just kinda happened like that.”

“I can't tell you how many times I've gone to present at the Golden Globes, come home, whipped the dress off and read to my daughter wearing gazillion-dollar earrings. That's how it goes in my house, and I wouldn't have it any other way.”

“I'm glad I've never been so successful that I couldn't stop doing one thing. I've kind of been able to just kick it along and switch around.”