Adam Pearson

We've got all these people chasing something that they're never going to get, because it doesn't exist. Even if they did get it, they'd have no idea what to do with it. It's a dog chasing a fire engine.

I don't mind attention. It's bad attention I don't like.

I have no idea what goes through people's heads when they first see me. 'Wow!' or 'Ugh!' More 'Wow!' I hope.

Comedy is a beautiful thing, it lets us wrestle with the world's issues, and as long as we use it properly and separate the fictional Deadpools from the real Adam Pearsons, then long may it live on.

I'm not into political correctness.

Both 'Deadpool' and 'Zoolander 2' make fun out of facial disfigurement. As someone with neurofibromatosis, a condition that has caused numerous non-cancerous tumours to grow on my face, I'm interested in how comedy deals with the issue.

I think we all need to learn to live the lives we've got and not mourn the ones we don't.

I have a strong background in, like, documentary and current affairs. I did a good five years of just food programming.

Well, it's always fun to show range as an actor. 'Cause once you've shown range, then someone has to do something with you as an actor.

Invasion is something I've grown up being quite accustomed to. And then I suppose it becomes a whole lesson in discernment. Who do you want to tell your story? Is this a curiosity I can answer, or is it dipping into disrespectful vaudevillian nonsense?

I went from being undesirable to undeniable - and now, I'm undisputable.

I was a lot smarter than the kids bullying me, so I'd just wind up blowing up at them. So if they said something that was a 3 on the playground Richter scale, I'd take it to an 8.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.' It sounds cute, but it's a complete fallacy.

I'm cool. I don't mind who knows it.

I think in order to love yourself, you've got to wake up saying, 'Alexa, play 'Macho Man' by The Village People' and dance around in some kind of bizarre ritual of self-confidence.

It is a rough process, self-acceptance and self-love. I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all shop, and we all have good days and bad days.

I go into everything with a clear head and a full heart and complete openness and trust.

Kindness goes a long way.

There are two ways to lose your anonymity in a society - to either become famous or have a disfigurement so I've kind of shot myself in both feet a little bit on that one.

I have neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition which means that non-cancerous tumours grow along my nerve endings. While these can grow anywhere, they have grown mainly on my face, causing severe disfigurement.

Elephant Man - the name given to Joseph Merrick - was the moniker that haunted my childhood.

I hate Halloween.

I developed a script that told the real story of The Elephant Man but also told the story of my journey into the world of freak shows.

In an ideal world, actors with conditions would play the characters with these same conditions, but that's a way off.

If I can try to be as normal as possible and show there's nothing to fear - either on film or day to day, going round the corner to go shopping for milk - then the more people see it in wider society, the less stigma there is. If I just sit at home and mope, hugging the dog and crying, nothing's going to change.

Seeing the steady increases in those with a visible difference or disfigurement experiencing hate crimes is frightening. We can't wait for a tragedy to happen before action is taken.

When I first got into TV when I was 25, one of my friends gave me what we now lovingly call 'the talk of doom.' He was like, 'You are going to go on TV, and people watch TV - if they don't like you, they will tell you on whatever platforms you are on. Do you think you can handle that?'

I was at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, one of the best pediatric institutes in the world, and they often had famous people come in to meet the kids. I met Boyzone, a big Irish boy band in the '90s. The other one was Princess Diana.

Disfigurement and disability is unique in terms of you don't get it until you get it.

I think judging someone on who they were and how they behaved when they were a teenager is unfair and unreasonable.

I care about advocacy.

I think an honest conversation goes a long way. Curiosity should be answered with kindness.

My disability has opened way more doors than it's closed.

My brother and I were raised to live the life we've got and not mourn the one we don't have.

People always think of the tragedy of going from being non-disabled to disabled. And no one really talks about it going the other way.

A lot of my friends will accuse me of just turning up to work and being myself on camera.

I want to get to a point where we can have guys like me in a film and I'm just there. Where the disability isn't the raison d'etre for me being there.

I want to go to the Oscars and clean up.

She's really nice, charming, funny and intelligent once you get over the feeling of 'Oh my God, this is Scarlett Johansson!'

Hate crimes, whoever they target, are despicable and not to be tolerated.

I can behave thoroughly awfully and, at the end of the day, hold my hands up and go, 'I'm disabled, I don't know any better.' And the whole world goes, 'You're right, you're an inspiration and a hero. You go, girlfriend!'

I often say that my disability does a lot of heavy lifting for my awful, awful personality.

I wanted to be a standup comic because I grew up on Joe Pasquale, Kenny Everett, Tommy Cooper. And everyone likes the funny guy.

I didn't think disabled people were allowed in films, because I didn't see any.

I get so many tweets and emails from young people with disabilities or disfigurements who also want to act, or do TV or do journalism, who now know that it's possible. The more disabled actors that we see, the more disabled actors will get work, because it won't be seen as such a risk.

I'm not saying at all that only disabled actors should get disabled roles, because that's equally prejudiced and equally stifling. But I think we need to delineate between equality of opportunity, and equality of outcome. And I think as far as equality of opportunity goes, the film industry is sorely, sorely lacking.

There are things I won't do. If they're kind of tacky or caricature-ish or just really badly written, then I'll tend to stay away from those.

I think all actors should be made to feel somewhat uncomfortable. Because otherwise you're not learning anything or developing, and you're not pressing yourself as an actor.

Where are the good guys with disfigurements, where are the characters with disfigurements where it isn't even mentioned?

No-one knows more about a rare condition than the person who's living with it, so listen to them.