Tuppence Middleton

“I was very, very shy in public and school, and quite loud and brash at home.”

“After doing 'War and Peace,' I suddenly got lots of seductress roles. It's easy to put people into a category after you've seen them in one thing that you feel fits with them. But I'm trying to make a conscious decision to do different things.”

“You want a career. You don't want to do a couple of good films and then your career is over.”

“As I got older, I auditioned for drama school and shocked myself by getting in.”

“I acted as a hobby when I was a child but wasn't initially very good at it.”

“My grandma used to call my mother 'Tuppence' as a term of affection, but she was worried when my parents actually put it on my birth certificate. She thought I might get bullied.”

“Period dramas seem to take actors to the next level because they do so well in America.”

“I don't want to be one of those young actors who is around for a couple of years and melts off the scene.”

“I'm not a method actor. I try to stay separate but to imagine what they'd feel, to put myself in their shoes.”

“I really like watching reruns of 'The Crystal Maze.' It's something that I find weirdly comforting. If I ever have even a small amount of banknotes, I love to 'Crystal Maze' them by throwing them in the air and catching them. But it's never as fun as it looks on TV.”

“Now, if I speak to people who want to act, I say, 'Don't give yourself a back-up.' If I had gone to university, I wouldn't be doing this job now. Having that pressure and no other option just made me work that much harder for it, because you have no other choice.”

“I think I would've been a bit terrified to have gone and done a lead straight away. Obviously great if you do, but it's all about longevity.”

“I always really loved Russian literature, and I think Tolstoy's writing is full of a sense of melancholy and humanity, so it seems really modern.”

“Everyone reads the same words in a book but has a very clear picture of their own.”

“I love film, but it's funny going to drama school for three years, where you spend most of your time training for theatre, then coming out and just doing films.”

“I've been told so many times that I should go to the gym to get my anxiety and frustration out. But it just makes me feel pure, concentrated dread.”

“I just enjoyed telling stories. I enjoyed watching films and reading and becoming someone else. I spent a lot of time on my own when I was younger; I enjoyed my own company and still do, so it was a source of escapism.”

“Since Kate Middleton came around, some people think I'm related to her, but unfortunately, there's no connection.”

“I liked to be in my own company, so when I came home from school, I'd just go up to my room and hang out by myself. I wouldn't really have friends over or go to see friends much.”

“It wasn't conscious, but I'm glad I've had a slow and steady career path. I wanted to develop my style, and I wanted to be the one making the decisions. Sometimes, when you become a success quickly, those decisions are out of your control.”