I'd auditioned for the National Youth Theatre and I didn't get a place and it was terrifying.

I try to be fussy about the parts I play. I think that's quite prudent, it means you're stretching different muscles, and you're scaring yourself by doing something which is out of your comfort zone.

I did four or five years in telly, and by the end of it was drained. I was a bit sick of myself. I didn't feel like an actor anymore. That sounds silly, but when you're doing a play you're using different muscles, and it blew all the cobwebs away.

Apart from earning an awful lot of money, why would you go to Hollywood?

With all the great products that are apparently out there that are undetectable, for me to take something like that... when people take things that now aren't even being tested for, does it make any sense?

Vamps no longer exist. Stars have taken their roles.

One of the core organizing principles of my life is that success comes through a delicate balance between making things happen and letting things happen.

I started out as a music teacher; I never planned on becoming an actress.