Rufus Sewell

“I don't think the roles that I'm necessarily known for in this country are my best work, or even anywhere near it. I didn't think I was great in 'Arcadia.' I think it's a great part and a great play and had a lot of attention.”

“I'm very, very happy with my recognition/lack of recognition in England in terms of my life. In terms of household name-age. The public's memory is very short, luckily.”

“The reason I am unemployed for six months out of every year is because I have to turn down most of the films I'm offered. If I didn't, I'd only ever play a dark, satanic count on a horse.”

“I was very frustrated, in a physical sense, by people seeing me in a way that I wasn't. And I was beginning to find myself boxed into a corner. Hopefully things have loosed up a bit, and I've gotten better and become more relaxed as an actor.”

“For a long time, I've had to hustle. If a film role is obviously great, then it's been difficult for me to get a look-in.”

“I think the only thing I've got going for me as an actor specifically is the fact that I can change.”

“I recognize myself to a lesser or greater extent in everything I read, good and bad, and that's part of being a human being if you're honest enough. And obviously the darker parts are the things you don't let control you.”

“Lazy journalists, they'll read stuff and get a quote then ask the same question again hoping I'll say a similar thing; it's very tiresome.”

“Well, thing is, after they cancelled 'Zen', I didn't work for eight months. And in that case, it was not my choice. After I've done something that I'm really proud of and I think changes the way I'm perceived, the immediate reaction is: nothing.”

“I've always liked the idea of regularly doing a play but I was offered things which I felt were too 'celebie' and West Endy.”

“For me, if I were to be at home in any kind of style, it is more comedy than anything else.”

“I wasn't a model schoolboy. Of course, I was forced to sit through Shakespeare and I really got into some of it, though it depended on who was reading it out.”

“I do as much comedy as I possibly can, but I'm basically limited by the imagination of the secretaries who make the decisions.”

“I want to be able to do anything. I know it's probably not reasonable to expect, but that's what I'd like to do.”

“For a long time, I didn't give anything my all. I was so afraid that I'd be crap, so I held myself back.”

“I've gone through long periods without being with someone and got a bit lonely, but not for a while.”

“Of course, I want to look good, as that helped me get jobs. But it didn't get me the jobs I wanted and it held me back.”

“If my British film career was a girl, then I'd been hanging around outside her apartment a little bit too long.”

“'The Taming Of The Shrew' is probably the first time I've worked in this country for about ten years, apart from theatre, and it's not for want of trying. It was so fantastic to work in London - it felt really glamorous.”

“Given the choice between someone saying I was handsome in a role or ugly but good, I know which I'd choose.”