As a kid, I remember wearing a checkered suit and appearing on-stage in the routines worked out by the 'baggy pants' comedians.

When I was 17, I was told I had the choice of enlisting in the Navy or going to jail, so I spent the next three years in the Navy.

I am a performer; that's what I like to do.

Many people came out and said, 'Boy I'd love to make a film that way.' Well, borrow some money, get some people together - you can get people to work for nothing, just treat them right, treat them as human beings, not stars, give them all an equal share, make them feel a part of what they're doing. There's no big secret to it.

I hadn't really thought about politics as a career in my twenties or early thirties.

To pursue a career in Hollywood you have to have a personality bypass. Look at the top 20 stars in the world - there's probably only two actors among them. Hollywood's not about you as an actor. It's about your currency, what you 'bring to the table'. And I've never been one to jump through hoops for anyone.

I've spent so much of my career working intermittently, being busy and then with large swaths of time off, that it became the norm.

I did GCSE's and A-levels. I did my finals after the Lions tour in 2009 to get my law degree. So I've always had an eye on life beyond playing, irrelevant of the period in my career.