A biography for Maxine Peakehasn’t been written yet.
“We take things at face value, don't we? You form an opinion about something immediately, but you ought to step back a bit. Take in the vista first.”
“I've always had pop-star crushes. I had a huge crush on Ian Brown.”
“At drama school, I was told, 'Lay off the chips, or you'll never play Juliet.' Sometimes, in the stock room of the set of 'Dinnerladies,' I'd put away three or four Mars bars while waiting for a scene. Then, at 24, I lost five stone.”
“I get very irate with actors when they talk about how distressing it all is. I mean, it's only acting. Please.”
“Male? Female? It's not always relevant to some people. They are who they are - they might not fit into a specific box.”
“I get angry about the way women are forced and bullied into what the male ideal is.”
“I find these dramas fascinating - it's a world that many of us fortunately don't dip into. The legal system is all around us, but the majority of us don't have to go into a court, so it's a way into another world that is unusual.”
“I was a tomboy. In my clubbing days, my friend Lucy Davies-Hunt - half-Iranian, looked like Yasmin Le Bon - could wear catsuits, while I was the one in the sweatshirt, jeans, and Fila boots.”
“Music is a huge inspiration to my style. I first got into it when I was 10: the new wave mod scene.”
“Often, when I am playing difficult roles, I have a problem sleeping because I can't leave the character behind.”
“What's wrong with wanting the best for everybody?”
“I am an actor. I love acting, and I absolutely love what I do, but I don't want it to be every waking hour.”
“If I were to appear in a programme like 'Sex and the City,' I'm sure I'd be cast as the downtrodden one staying at home and having seven children while the others jet-setted around the world.”
“I'm inspired by films from the early '50s, especially Jean Simmons in 'The Clouded Yellow' - and by vintage swing, psychobilly gigs, sea shanties, and English folklore.”
“I'm unusual in that I've worked more as I've got older.”
“If I feel like if there's a few too many people on that path with me, then I want to jump off and find another one.”
“I remember when New Labour got in. I was at Salford Tech studying drama, and everyone was jumping up and down, and I was so upset, I went to a phone box and called my granddad.”
“I don't really engage with that world of technology, which might be to my detriment.”
“Food is important in working out a character. How she eats is a window into her temperament. If I think she likes her food, I'll put on a few pounds, or lose a few if she lives on her nerves.”
“When I was a little girl, there was this unbelievably cool female bus driver who'd work near us. I remember thinking I'd like to be her when I grew up.”