"I love controversy; it’s what makes good stories and good characters. Peter O’Toole was once asked what made a good actor and he said good characters."

"I guess it will always follow me but I am trying to take on roles that are different, to step away from that kind of character. I am growing as an actor and trying to explore different avenues"

"I haven't left Rhythm City. I am still there. It was not difficult to juggle the roles because we made an arrangement between the productions. It (the role on Imbewu) is a once off but who knows if I will go back in the next season?."

"Firstly, I was never into marriage. Even at home, they were shocked when the letter came. I always said I didn’t see myself getting married. I wanted kids, but never marriage. I also don’t have a really good reference of marriage."

"Pregnancy is such a sensitive thing. You need to respect it, protect it and take care of it"

"Sometimes talent alone is not enough and I’ve had to learn that along the way. Sometimes you just have to work hard."

"I think one of the things that I had to learn is that sometimes you have to be patient for some things; no matter how talented you are, you just have to be patient. And also, hard work pays off. Well, it hasn’t really fully paid off for me but I can see the rewards of working hard."

"Being able to do something different and show another side of my creativity was such a proud moment for me. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and showed me that I can tell stories in more than one way."

"When you attack life at such a young age, you have ambition and you’re hoping that things will go your way until you actually get the experience that life doesn’t quite work that way."

"If all African writers only wrote about race (for instance), which is a major factor that contributes to the inequalities faced by black people across the world, we would miss the opportunity to bring out the other human aspects of our people"

"Don't allow anyone or anything to make yo feel like you cannot fulfill whatever it is that your heart says you're here to fulfill."

"In a country that has as many inequalities as ours, volunteering should be second nature"

"If you re not surprised, how do you expect the reader to be surprised?"

"As much as my writing is diverse and sometimes straddles different categories, it’s clear that placing any of my books under a section marked “chick lit” is patently sexist"

"Living in South Africa, crime is something that is always with us, in our conscious and subconscious minds"

"I just think women are so much more than that, we have so much more to offer than our beauty and body."

"We can have the policies and constitution in the world, but if we're not working on these issues at home and school, then we're never going to get it right."

"There is always that question: is this who we are as a society? How do we question our value system and what that means for the society we are raising"

"Flashiness is off-putting, but it is something that we live with amongst the black middle class – with people who made a lot of money very quickly. I understand the temptation to say, I started at the bottom, now I’m here, and I want everyone to see. But at the same time, it just puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on people. That’s why, right now, mental health issues are such a big thing in society – it’s not the only reason, but it is one of them"

"The fear from an author normally stems from having to let go of something that you have birthed and nurtured."

"I think i just love danger"

"Writing is a very cathartic experience and I use it to address my fears"

"It was tricky trying to find the balance between the producers’ instincts on what works on screen versus the creator’s instincts for what their character would or would not do in a certain situation"

"I stepped back from acting because I was bringing up a child. You can't do both."

"It's exactly at the moment that they want you most – at the end of the day when it's bathtime, storytime, bedtime – that's when you're walking out the door. I couldn't bear that brave little look as he said, 'Goodbye'. So I thought Josh is more important than a play."

"My sensitivity to prejudice is high because I was brought up in South Africa. My awareness of all this crap came earlier, and it's stayed with me, and it's why I'm militantly liberal."

"Nature has a way of dealing with your brain when you have a child – it turns it to porridge."

"You realise retrospectively mother nature has made you absolutely focused and cow-like. Then you realise your child is infinitely cleverer than you will ever be, and wittier and funnier, and you like being in its company and so you think, 'I haven't done a bad job, really."

"The whole purpose of an actor's life is to find great writing, and when it comes along you leap on it like a puppy on a slipper. You're avid – greedy – hungry – for great gobbets of good writing. That's all we live for."

"I remember being absolutely shocked in Australia at the absence of black people."

"Theatre is a white invention, a European invention, and white people go to it. It's in their DNA. It starts with Shakespeare."

"The only times I saw black people were once in Adelaide and once at the other end of the continent, in both cases looking desperate on the street, sitting in huddles drinking beer. I realised what Australians had done to their indigenous population, to their other: they'd disappeared them."

"You can't envy something you can't be, can you? You sat and admired what was emerging."

"In South Africa we were criminal, beastly, vile and disgusting, but we didn't commit genocide."

"Any government would be really embarrassed to ban Shakespeare."

"The apartheid government was frightened of ridicule. Everyone is frightened of laughter."

"Life and art get mixed up sometimes – it's what actors draw on."

"Let us pledge to show the world our abhorrence to the heinous acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance"

"Our democratic government undertakes to never ignore the plight of the poor, those without shelter, those without means to an education and those suffering from abuse and neglect"

"My challenge to those responsible for public policy formulation and implementation is: do we display selflessness, diligence and dedication in the execution of our tasks?"

"Therefore, in a democratic era, I urge you to use democratic institutions available to us to voice our grievances and demands. This is our collective responsibility, as much as it is the responsibility of government to fast-track the creation of a better life for all."

"On this Human Rights Day, we should remember that a common ownership of our history is the basis of nation building and must never be undermined by any interest group based on the subjectivity of race, religion, class, gender or ideology"

"We must remember that this nation is more than a composition of its challenges"

"We should listen to young people in Africa, they are Africa's greatest resource. ‘We should use their ideas, empower them with education, and invest heavily in young entrepreneurs"

"My grandmother had taught us to say goodbye when we went to the shop in town, because we never knew if we would come back or not. We use to say ‘If you don’t see me, check me at number four"

"It is difficult to imagine that 16 years ago South Africa was regarded as a pariah state that was notorious for grotesque violations of human rights. Today our Constitution enjoins each and every one of us to strive for the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist, open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom."

"Together we can do more to protect and make human rights real. Together we can do more to build a better future we can all be proud of as a nation united in its diversity."

"Rather than being thrown into the depths of despair by the doubts that this moment raises, I charge us all to embrace doubt"

"It is critically important to ensure that these discussions are not solely held in ivory towers of intellectualism and that they do not simply consist of elite factions of our society"

"A key message from the Human Rights Day is that we should honour all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of the noble goals of freedom"