Aisling Bea

I am too fat and tall to be a jockey. This is not self-deprecation - I realise that I am neither too fat nor too tall - but I am too fat and too tall to be a jockey.

It's a difficult thing to be in fashion or popular - it's all so fickle.

For ethical fashion, I really like Reformation. It's so fashionable - no hemp trousers.

I love L.A. Some people arrive with big expectations and are inevitably disappointed, but I can audition in the day, which can be gruelling and lonely, but then gig and be creative in the evenings.

When I'm in L.A., I'm part of the Irish community out there, and I just love it.

Those two years at drama school were nutty and weird. I didn't love it at all - I loved my class; I have so many great friends from that time - but I learned less. I just learned more of what I didn't like.

My father's death has given me a lot. It has given me a lifelong love of women, of their grittiness and hardness - traits that we are not supposed to value as feminine. It has also given me a love of men, of their vulnerability and tenderness - traits that we do not foster as masculine or allow ourselves to associate with masculinity.

Your first love is your first love. It cannot be analysed, explained, nor forgotten.

I love my cobbler, and he fixes my soles and soul for me.

Americans like workers, people who slog. I love working.

Nothing chills out the soul like the comfort of tea and a potato.

I love BareMinerals pink blushers, Smashbox eyeshadows and eyeliners, and Trish McEvoy mascara.