My character in 'Shame' is an outrageous person. Loud and uncompromising and I begged Steve McQueen to give me the job.

In London, people can be so... well, it's not even a case of people being unkind or unfriendly. You just don't make any contact in London. You go from A to B with your eyes on the pavement.

It Girl' is such a weird term. It implies I go to parties and drink champagne.

I never get recognised here in London, which I like. Once a year, someone comes up to me and asks if I am 'so-and-so's niece' because they think they recognise me from somewhere. I like that.

I was just 18 years old, excited about being drafted to the N.B.A. I felt like all of Houston was watching me. My high school was watching me. I think they had a draft party at my coach's house. I'll never forget that day, being in the green room with my family and my agent.

If you're a person of faith that is conservative, that's pro-life, as I am, that believes strongly in traditional family values, as I do... then how we talk about them matters.

My father, once he has decided on something, doesn't care about what anyone else thinks. All the men in our family swore at him for training us. His parents said he was mad. But he didn't listen.

My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English.