Anna Chancellor

I went for endless auditions for tiny parts in obscure plays, and never got one job until I was in 'Four Weddings'.

I do try and curb my mouth, but I find it really hard. I wonder how many jobs I've talked myself out of!

Some people in my family achieved a lot, some people inherited a lot. But I turned my back on the whole thing.

My parents had four children quickly, divorced quickly - when I was two - and my mother remarried quickly. We were suddenly in a different environment with a different father.

There's a certain amount of self-aggrandising with actors, and I'm terribly shy of that.

I love buying things. I could be one of those crazy hoarders.

In the theatre, if you say 'Macbeth', all the actors will start looking very anxious. I'm so well-trained not to say it in the theatre that I can hardly say it in normal life.

I don't feel my capabilities in cookery are as big as my desire - as with so many aspects of my life.

If I had married someone wealthy when I was young, I would have sunk like a stone. Being skint makes life quite clear. You've got to take that job.

I find running life quite hard, and I like sharing that. Obviously, the companionship, being loved and loving, is fantastic. But I don't feel that I couldn't live without a boyfriend or lover or husband.

I'm always crying. I get a lump in my throat when I see intimacy between parents and their children.

I was brought up with two sisters, so I do know about a three-way dynamic. It's a complex one, because it's easy for one to get left out and the others to gang up. In my family, we were all pretty up for it, but the dynamics would constantly change.