Noma Dumezweni

“I am so passionate about representation because, growing up, I didn't see myself, and now people can say, 'I see myself there.' We're all trying to find where we are.”

“Family - it's all about family. Families feeling safe and finding your safe place.”

“It's hard; this business of acting is hard.”

“I am so lucky I get to work with amazing, amazing people.”

“I'm a great company actor, a great supporting actor. I serve the piece.”

“However popular you are, you still feel like an outsider.”

“The only question we should ask is, 'Are they good?' I've met great actors, black and white, and I've met bad actors, black and white.”

“Whoever we are, we have to carve something out of our lives. I would like to be on my deathbed going, 'I've enjoyed that. I went through the rollercoaster of it, but I've appreciated it.'”

“At the very beginning, being a parent did impact how I go about this business.”

“The world shows us what we need at a specific moment in time.”

“I'm working with theatre-makers who are the top of their game, and it's extraordinary.”

“Stop worrying what other people think.”

“There are so many directors, young and old, around - all doing their thing and struggling.”

“I arrived in this country as a refugee child with my sister and my mother.”

“I've always been curious about the other worlds we can shift into in our imaginations.”

“If I think even a week ahead, I get terrified. My big thing is trying to enjoy the moment as much as I can.”

“I wasn't very academic at school, but the Wolsey Youth Theatre was the saving of me.”

“I am a black woman who has been given this character called Hermione to play on the stage. But actually, we've all grown up with the books, with Emma Watson playing her in the films. Imagery is so strong.”

“The weight of expectation is huge. But for me, that pressure has been outweighed by getting text messages from mums I know saying how huge it is for their mixed-race daughters that I am playing Hermione.”

“I now realise I'm a great actor.”