Martin Compston

“I'm in the very fortunate position as a young actor to not have to take the first job that comes along. I'm not motivated by money at this stage in my life, I'm motivated by work.”

“I'm a lucky boy. Never wanted for anything; new tracksuit, new pair of football boots. I had a happy childhood.”

“A lot of the films I do go down brilliantly critically and win awards, but not a lot of people see them.”

“There was a lot of pressure on me when I was 18, 19 to move to America. I went out for a couple of weeks and hated it. I thought I could go out my mind. You could really see how people could go off the rails.”

“When I was young, running with a gang was a cool thing to do; that's how you get popular; that's how you get the girls.”

“I don't regret giving up football for acting. I love football and am very proud I played for Morton. But the truth is, I wasn't going to get much higher in football. At the same time, I sensed I could go somewhere in acting. I'm 28, which is young for acting, whereas in football I'd now be near the end of my career.”

“Acting has been really good me. You end up in some wild places, and I love adventure.”

“When I was growing up, it was the guys who were hardest at school who got the prettiest girls. It's a status thing.”

“The last time I threw a punch was in primary school, and that was probably a slap.”

“I've been lucky enough to work with some great directors, and I don't want to throw that away by doing one big horrible big budget film.”

“I've two huge German shepherds who are my boys. They're called Biscuit and Buster, and I love them to bits.”