Art Malik

The easiest bit is when you're talking. It's listening that is so difficult. If you get out any Spencer Tracy film, you think, 'Wow, he's doing nothing, yet he's doing everything.'

Most families are dysfunctional.

I grew up in the Fifties and Sixties and remember how unpleasant all kinds of food could be then.

My own mother is very accomplished and makes things like bahar breads as though they are going out of fashion - they are like stuffed parathas and can contain anything from potatoes to poppy seeds.

I do sometimes cook myself, and I do enjoy it, though it does depend what's in the fridge, and filming can mean I don't have much time.

I grew up in Balham in south London, and my best friend's brother was Geoffrey Robinson, who of course later became paymaster general, but at that time, he was working in politics.

The bagel budget for 'Sex and the City 2' could pay for 'Ghosted.'

I love listening to music on holiday, and back in the old days, I used to travel with cassette tapes and a boombox.

I always think it's kind of fun to get to the airport early, check in, and then go and have a meal before getting on the plane.

My idea of a great holiday is not to go out. It's to find somewhere where I'm not confronted by people coming up to me and saying, 'You're Art Malik, aren't you?' It's quite nice sometimes not to be recognised.

How can you turn down Marks and Gran? Their scripts are so rich in texture.

Not until somebody turns round and says, 'Art, how do you fancy playing Charles Dickens? How do you fancy playing Prince Charles in this biopic?' Until those movements come, then no, we haven't got past anything.

I'm lucky: I've got great photogenic eyes. You're up and running if you've got that and one brain cell to attach it to.

'True Lies' reinvented me in the eyes of a new generation and got me offers.

I hope to work in Indian films again. I would love to.

Today, loss is something everybody feels. It could be the loss of a friend moving away. It could be your best friend moves to the other side of town or his family does. It's a loss.

We all understand loss. It's about what you do with that.

My all time favourite films - one is 'Mary Poppins,' and the other one is 'Pakeezah.' 'Pakeezah' was an Indian film. The beauty of 'Pakeezah' was that it had a soundtrack which was pure poetry.

I was doing 'Homeland' and read the first two episodes, and all I wanted was episode three to know what would happen next.

My work is really simple. They say 'action,' I do my stuff; they say, 'cut!'

To see the difference between when I came to Britain in 1955 with what it is today, to see how the sub-continent has been embraced, it is quite extraordinary.

I grew up in a Britain where 'Paki-bashing' was around in my late teens from the National Front. We also had 'Pakis Go Home,' and even 'Jewel In The Crown' attracted this sort of comment.

If people ever stop making films about India, I'd never work again.

I would like to go to Iceland to see the northern lights.

Am I overjoyed when somebody says, 'Oh, we're going to do another Jane Austen?' No - because there's never anything in it for me.