Rufus Sewell

I recognize myself to a lesser or greater extent in everything I read, good and bad, and that's part of being a human being if you're honest enough. And obviously the darker parts are the things you don't let control you.

My career has suddenly started to be the one that I'd always wanted, not in terms of level of success, but in terms of - and this is what I've been banging on about - playing different parts in different media.

I was very frustrated, in a physical sense, by people seeing me in a way that I wasn't. And I was beginning to find myself boxed into a corner. Hopefully things have loosed up a bit, and I've gotten better and become more relaxed as an actor.

I've gone through long periods without being with someone and got a bit lonely, but not for a while.

When I left drama school, my fear was that I'd get pigeon holed into comic acting and I did so much to counter it that I got stuck in the opposite.

For me, if I were to be at home in any kind of style, it is more comedy than anything else.

I was the lead in 'Interview With The Vampire', until Tom Cruise decided he was interested. I was in 'The Wings Of The Dove' with Uma Thurman, until that got cancelled. I was in 'Shakespeare In Love' with Julia Roberts, until that fell apart.

People talk about opportunity knocking, but the gate was always swinging in the breeze before I got to the door.

Yes, years of compromise and disappointment have added depth to my acting.

For a long time, I've had to hustle. If a film role is obviously great, then it's been difficult for me to get a look-in.

I'd like an omelet named after me.

I think if a character appeals to you, there are certain parts of yourself will come to the fore and other parts that will play down.

I think the only thing I've got going for me as an actor specifically is the fact that I can change.

Lazy journalists, they'll read stuff and get a quote then ask the same question again hoping I'll say a similar thing; it's very tiresome.

I do as much comedy as I possibly can, but I'm basically limited by the imagination of the secretaries who make the decisions.

I'm only based in L.A. because I couldn't get any work in England.

It's nice when women fancy me, but I think I will only disappoint them so I prefer it if they don't know who I am.

Given the choice between someone saying I was handsome in a role or ugly but good, I know which I'd choose.

Of course, I want to look good, as that helped me get jobs. But it didn't get me the jobs I wanted and it held me back.

I want to be able to do anything. I know it's probably not reasonable to expect, but that's what I'd like to do.

The reason I am unemployed for six months out of every year is because I have to turn down most of the films I'm offered. If I didn't, I'd only ever play a dark, satanic count on a horse.

For a long time, I didn't give anything my all. I was so afraid that I'd be crap, so I held myself back.

A large part of my adolescence was spent doing my very best to draw attention to myself.

Billy is a funny, cheeky, lovely boy and I love being with him. Parenthood is terrifying though. I can barely walk past a building without panicking that it's going to collapse on his head.

I'm in a position where I'm being continually knocked back for the kind of independent films I want to be in because people don't know who I am.