Kerry Condon

“Everyone at home thought I was nuts when I said I wanted to be an actress, and I'm sure they were just trying to protect me from disappointment.”

“I'm used to riding horses. My father used to breed horses when I was a child. I grew up in Tipperary, in the country, and lots of people have horses there. If my parents hadn't been in the business, we would have them anyway, as pets. And my cousin Richard is a jockey.”

“All horses are different - sometimes they have a long neck - so you don't ride the same way on every horse. It depends on their body, and your body, but the object is to get down low so you're aerodynamic, so you call pull from the horse through the head. The best jockeys do that really well, and know how much to push.”

“You think when you start getting jobs that it'll get easier, but that's the biggest lie ever. It gets harder. You have to put in more work. I wish it were the casting couch days because it'd be a lot easier!”

“I'm not panicking any more or worrying about the next job. It was exhausting and making me very unhappy, and I was missing out on life.”

“I'm used to riding horses. My father used to breed horses when I was a child. I grew up in Tipperary, in the country, and lots of people have horses there.”

“I'm not interested in the mad race. I just like working with good people.”

“I'm seeing a guy now who has nothing to do with films. It's so much nicer with somebody who isn't an actor. Two crazy people in one house would be too much. It's better there's one crazy person, and one nice person who looks after that crazy person.”

“Sometimes I think I don't want to grow old as an actress and deal with the fact that I'm getting less jobs 'cause my face is changing, and then the men... But at the same time, I'm pretty competitive. I don't know if I'd bow out. I might still be acting when I'm in a wheelchair.”

“I am an animal rights campaigner myself, and I donate money and time to those charities, but I think sometimes the problem with animal rights campaigners, including myself, is that we don't think about people's feelings, too.”

“I'm pretty shy when I go home because I was pretty shy growing up, and I think I go back to that person.”

“I know it's superficial, and you can't measure art, which is supposed to be up to the individual, but I've watched the Oscars since I was a baby with my mother.”

“My very first acting job was with Alan Parker on' Angela's Ashes,' but as a child, I had written to so many other productions just applying for any role. I always wanted to be an actress, and I did loads of acting summer schools.”