Romola Garai

“A passion for any novel, and any character, can crystallise your ideas when you really need to be as open as possible as a performer.”

“It's a sad fact that a lot of those countries who haven't been involved in the war in Iraq have taken far more responsibility for rehoming people displaced by the war than Britain has done.”

“I would love to live free of the fear and sadness and real desperation that I think the effect of childbirth has on women, especially because we are expected to be so concerned by 'recovery' from childbirth.”

“I can't spend the rest of my life being pretty in a bonnet.”

“I'm an actor. And like a lot of actors, it's very important that everybody loves you all the time.”

“My alter egos have changed a lot over the years. When I was a child, I was a black horse called Storm. Whinnying and jumping over bamboo poles in the garden took up pretty much my entire childhood.”

“The point of being a movie star is that people cast you in a role. Actors tie themselves in knots trying to get out of that.”

“Postwar Europe was morally stagnant, and there was a lot of neo-conservatism.”

“I was 20 years old when, despite mass protests against military action, Iraq was invaded in 2003 - it didn't make for motivated political participation, I can tell you.”

“I'd actually really love to review books and films and plays, but you can't be an artist and a critic. I would love it if I could.”