I think intelligence is usually sexy until it becomes irritating. After that, you're stuck.

I've been a working actor for many years, but it's not always been successful for me. I certainly struggled in the past.

I grew up with two different parakeets - one that lived for five years, and one that lived for 13 years - so I always had a bit of an attraction to birds and it's an oddly good fit to be in a movie about birdwatchers.

My choices in projects have all been character or role-based, and on a financial level, it's obvious: as an actor on a TV series, I get a wonderful paycheck, and a consistent paycheck, which doesn't always happen when you're doing theater or movies.

My mother is such an incredibly strong woman. She raised a family of five boys extremely well. She made us all strong, loving, caring people. We all support each other. I'm really thankful to her.

I don't make excuses if I play bad. I just try to find a way to deal with it. I learned that from my family, to deal with your problems and still be good at what you do.

My kids are part of the rest of my community and my wider family.

I'm well in touch with my family, my children. I keep them on my answer phone, so if I want to hear one of their voices, all I have to do is punch it up and it will be there.