Zawe Ashton

“I've always wanted to live somewhere extremely nice like Sloane Square... although that would probably be too nice for me.”

“How long have we got to talk about women of colour and imposter syndrome. It's a real thing, and many people have it. It's, I think, a particular characteristic of the overachiever. Because you're bottomless, you never think what you've achieved is enough.”

“I'm not really sure what defines 'success in the real world' to be honest! It's so objective once you graduate, some people work, some people start families, some go looking for themselves up mountains in Peru.”

“I'm not really concerned about being liked on stage - I'm a bit more concerned about it off stage.”

“We live in a capitalist society and if we're talking about the people at the bottom of the food chain, it's women of colour.”

“I just always play these really extreme characters - they've all come with parental guidance stickers on them.”

“I hate talking about class, but the truth is as an actor you're only going to be doing some really great work if you can afford to be out of work and take the good stuff. If you can't, you're going to be treading quite a different path.”

“I was very fortunate to have had three years on 'Fresh Meat,' before working on 'Not Safe for Work.' Comedy drama is a very hard genre to nail so I was very glad to have had some practice.”

“I hate using the word 'dark' for things that are negative.”

“I'm a card-carrying existentialist.”

“Todd Solondz is a film maker I've always loved because of how he balances darkness, humour and surrealism in his films.”

“Each project you do demands a different diet in a way. Because there's so much tension in 'Betrayal,' so much holding of breath and emotion, I can't get too happy in my food choices or I can't get alert enough.”

“No-one tells you about being in episodic television and it ending. No-one tells you how painful it is. How bizarre it is when you've dedicated your life to one character for five years.”

“I hate when there's a band that you've loved and you go and see them and it's like only the really new experimental stuff from the current album.”

“Don't worry if you're interesting enough or beautiful enough or any of the 'enoughs.'”

“My dad constantly tells me I should calm down, but I feel so sad when I see places I've known since I was a child closing. I burst out crying when a local pharmacy closed the other day; it's just going to become a shop that nobody has much of a need for. But I am trying to move with the times.”

“I'm a keen experimenter in the kitchen. With food, not with anything else!”

“The actors I admire always have something to say, or a level of poetry, belief, activism or intelligence about what they do or how they feel.”

“I don't think there's a part that I've played or something I've written or directed that hasn't smacked of 'The Wizard Of Oz.' It's the film all roads lead to for me.”

“Anyone who's been an usher knows it's a training in resilience. But you get such a film education. And the popcorn's free.”