Kelly Reilly

“I think when you're an actor and you're drawing on your emotions all the time, you need to be quite steady.”

“Literally, I don't know where life is gonna go from one day to the next, and that's as exciting as it is tiring.”

“I'm not temperamentally into high comedy. I'm not a Noel Coward kind of girl.”

“My personal life, my normal life, is so important to me. To be able to go back to my personal life and leave characters behind is important; I don't keep them with me.”

“I'd love to work on a real girl piece with some fabulous actresses. I feel like I've worked with so many men.”

“At my school, Shakespeare wasn't on the syllabus - at least not for me.”

“I act because I have to, because I need to find out whether I can do it or not - that's what drives me and excites me and lights me up.”

“I love actresses who are brave and don't do what's expected of them or don't play off how they look or take risks.”

“The British theatre and establishment is so hard to penetrate, and there are so many talented people involved in it. So, to be counted among some of those actresses... It doesn't get better than that.”

“I love strong women in films that are allowed to play women and not male fantasies.”

“Obviously, education is hugely important, along with healthcare. They're the basics and you're hurting your own country if you don't pour money into them.”

“We live in a celebrity-obsessed society.”

“My dad is such a good man, hard-working.”

“I'm a theater actress. I love rehearsal. I could have six weeks of rehearsal and think it's not enough. But on film, you don't get that luxury.”

“I hate to say that my mother was 'just a housewife', because in addition to that she has had lots of part-time secretarial jobs in factories and hospitals, always working really hard for our family.”

“I need someone who understands an artist's mentality. I couldn't be with someone who wouldn't let me have my freedom.”

“Acting has always been such escapism for me.”

“You know, I really enjoy longevity. I see actors in their forties and they just turn out these really fabulous roles and characters. You know who they are, but you wouldn't necessarily know their names.”

“Being at the pinnacle of my career is not to turn up in some multiplex blockbuster.”

“You put yourself on tape as an actor a lot - and you send them off, they go out into the ether, and you have no idea what's going to come back, or when.”