Actors From England

"There was no way of getting love. If all you have experienced is humiliation and rejection, and your foster father forces you to fight back or get a beating from him, you look for any kind of lifeline. There were only two options: fight, or become a victim. I tried the victim option for a long time."

"I wanted to assimilate and go back to the abnormal normality I knew. I wanted to wash off the experience of Africa but obviously I couldn't because that's who I was. As much as I wanted to deny it, it was plaguing me, and I was reminded by the images coming through the TV, people on the streets and in the end my family in the house."

"I’m black British and I’m from London. And that in itself is something that the world doesn’t know about yet. I met American people – civilians of a first-world country – who were confused that there were black people in London. That’s why entertainment is so special, it’s a great chance to bring people together and open them up to things they haven’t seen before."

"At the age of nine I found it a weird concept that someone is here one day and not the next. I didn’t understand what that truly meant. It was so big. I’d never heard of murders in London before then. A little kid running around with your packed lunch and your superheroes."

"I ain't paying money to always see one type of person on-screen…Because you see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day. Even if you're a racist, you have to live with that. We can ruffle up some feathers."

"Even in terms of the beginning stage of the career, obstacles are something that you get so used to. The uncertainty of your life. You’ll always exist in a weird balance because you’re going for a career that’s somewhat unrealistic and not all success. There’s always challenges and you’ve gotta get through it or you’re beaten by it. It creates this kind of discipline, in a sense."

"It felt like a kidnap…and it rendered me mute for about nine months. I couldn't speak the language, and if I spoke English I was abused for it. It was quite a culture shock: brutal. I was so traumatised and afraid that I stopped speaking and my [birth] parents thought there was something wrong with me, thought I was possessed…"

"I’m very aware of the time I have on this planet…I lost loved ones at a young age. I realise the platform I have and the responsibility I have, and I’m aware of my mortality. No one like me has ever had this opportunity, so I’d be a fool not to make the most of it."

"The greatest lesson I’ve learned from it is that context is irrelevant when you hurt somebody. I felt justified in saying what I was saying, because of the context, because of the conversation, but the words I used offended a lot of people and some people I care about, and those words were wrong…"

"There’s a unique trust between me and the public that’s grown up and that’s really important to me, but the truth is that trust has come about because the programmes I make are not about me. The subject is always bigger: that’s the lesson I’ve learned about making documentaries."

"It’s never an interview, it’s a conversation, researched to a point, but I can still be surprised in the moment. I feel confident in saying that if I sat down with George Clooney, I could get him to say something he’d never said before."

"I’ve a kinship with women…That’s why I’ve always put women in strong positions in music."

"I never thought of my music as dark…It can’t be that dark to get people through a dark period, can it?"

"“This ain’t bad-guy talk, cos I’m not a bad guy…But people don’t realise what fear can do. I’ve had situations where I’ve been so scared, where I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, and it’s gone on for weeks and it’s ruining my life. It makes you sick, it makes you mentally ill."

"One of the biggest problems with my daughter is that I’ve never loved anybody that much before…I was there at her birth. And all of a sudden I started feeling things. And it was too much for me. Because I was emotionally numb, and it was easier for me to get through life being emotionally numb, but then suddenly I was feeling things…I’ve lost people before, like grandmothers, but I’ve bounced back…This is different. Everything looks different, even music doesn’t sound the same. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I was in Islington yesterday and I was hoping I was going to see her, hoping she’s gonna walk up to me."

"As an actor, I’m always in clothes that I wouldn’t necessarily choose to wear myself."

"And I've run out of pale ale and I feel like I'm in jail and my music bores me once again and I've been on the pinball and I no longer know it all and they say that you never know when you're insane Got fleas in the bedroom got flies in the bathroom and the cat just finished off the bread So I walk over Soho and I read about Monroe And I wonder was she really what they said Got a call from a good friend "Come on down for the weekend" Didn't know if I could spare the time I knew a woman who was crazy about a boy who was lazy but it didn't work out 'cos they just couldn't make it rhyme Hey Jude, you were alright I could have grooved with you all night But you turned your back on the party game Mama if I keep my head clean, will I really have a good dream? Or will I wake up in confusion just the same? And I've run out of pale ale and I feel like I'm in jail Got fleas in the bedroom, got flies in the bathroom Got a call from a good friend, "Come on down for the weekend" Hey Jude, you were alright, I could have grooved with you all night And I've been on the pale ale, and I feel like a pinball ** Brian Protheroe, "Pinball" (song)"

"There are certain shows on certain channels that do try to appeal to a teenage demographic, and I think that always looks a bit suspect, like a dad dancing at a party"

"I feel like I could have been really effeminate, if I hadn’t gone to the school I went to. Where I felt like I had to toughen up. If I’d have been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a different person now. I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down that path. Because it’s probably given me the unique quality that people think I have."

"When I was younger and really busy, I think I did lose sight of who exactly I was. Mental wellbeing is something that is so important in any career but in acting in particular. That’s why friendship and family is so important to me."

"There aren't many plays in which a character says "Has the doctor looked at my sample yet?" He knows he is old, that soon he will die. The Henry plays are the great England plays: you get a sense of the country from top to bottom, from monarch to prostitute, from Westminster to Cheapside. But they are also about death. The plays are immortal and I am not. So I hitch a lift on the back."

"[I]n the theatre, life is happening now. That's Falstaff's first word: "Now!" It's not reported life, it's life right there."

"Hollywood has mistreated women in every possible way throughout its history. Gay men don't exist."

"I think this is why a lot of actors, at least in the past, have been gay: the only place where they could be themselves, express themselves, at a time when it was illegal [...] to be homosexual, was in public, protected by the play. You could come up with real emotions for real situations but not of course your own."

"Heterosexuality is far too interesting a phenomenon to be ignored."

"Well, nobody looks to Hollywood for social commentary, do they? They only recently discovered that there were black people in the world."

"Any actor who has had his marriage photographed by the press has proclaimed his heterosexuality. Now, apart from one member of the House of Commons [Chris Smith], there are no gay members of the House of Commons? There are no gay members of the House of Lords? This is the times we are living in. That homosexuality is an invisible minority. Of course it's a minority. I would claim that it is between 5-10% of the population. Not converted to it, born with it, happy with it, would like to live with it, inoffensively and contributing to society. You [Peregrine Worsthorne] suspect they might be corrupting society."

"You must accept that there are very very few famous homosexuals in this country. There are no sportsmen who declare that they are gay because they don't like to because they are frightened of what will happen to them. And this is the area in which schoolchildren, to get back to the Bill, the schoolchildren who having no role models in society discover, fear, that they are gay, they go to their parents where they get a dusty answer, they go automatically, of course, to the other adults in their lives, they go to their teachers. And their teachers need to be in a position to be able to discuss that sexuality and reassure them that it is not against the law, it is not wrong and they must feel at ease with it, if they have decided at the end of their experimentation with their sexuality that they are one thing or the other. And this Bill will restrict dangerously that perfectly proper activity of the schools."

"I think this country will be a healthier place if people in public life who are gay, announce that they are gay and left it at that so that the majority in society would understand that homosexuals are their friends, their supporters and a major contribution to the cultural and healthy life of this nation."

"The audience I play to really is the bright 14-year-old: someone who is capable of sitting still and listening and watching and feeling for even three hours. I know, as I did at that age, they'll potentially have their lives changed."

"Porn can be very uncomfortable as you must be aware of the camera and make sure they are getting the right shot, as well as if there's enough light getting in so they can see. You also have to position yourself to show off the girl, ensuring she looks the best she possibly can."

"I fell into porn by mistake, actually."

"Thankfully, I've never had to use the insurance policy. And although a million dollars is a lot of money, to me, my penis is priceless."

"One of the things I enjoy the most is the thrill of stepping into different characters and fully immersing myself in their world. It’s like going on an adventure every time I take on a new role. Exploring their backgrounds, motivations, and emotions is like unlocking a treasure trove of human experiences. It allows me to stretch my creativity and push the boundaries of what I thought was possible.* When you’re playing someone, I feel the character taking over me, but I am also influencing the character. Becoming embodied in the character on set is, what I think, makes a really powerful actor. If the character is good enough in a script, it really affects you. This is why I try and become the character for one or two weeks."

"I've been in the industry for about 13 years now, but I would say my name only got bigger once I came to America and started working for Brazzers. The exposure they get is on another level. To make it big in the industry these days you have to be able to perform, first and foremost, but a huge part of making it big in porn is marketing yourself on various social media outlets."

"I am getting older, and [Mr. Bean] naturally has to get older with me, and that's why I've done him very little in recent years. Because I don't particularly want him to get old. I've always seen him as a rather timeless, ageless figure — though, in fact, when we were doing this funeral sketch a few weeks ago, quite a few people said you know there's something about Bean in middle age which feels almost more right; he sort of suits an older outlook."

"Personally I suspect that I am highly unlikely to be arrested for whatever laws exist to contain free expression, because of the undoubtedly privileged position that is afforded to those of a high public profile. So my concerns are less for myself, and more for those more vulnerable because of their lower profile. Like the man arrested in Oxford for calling a police horse 'gay'. Or the teenager arrested for calling the Church of Scientology a 'cult'. Or the café owner arrested for displaying passages from the Bible on a TV screen."

"It’s the age-old dilemma of being known for doing a certain thing in a certain way. And even if people think, “Well, we could cast him in this role,” then they say, “He just brings a lot of Mr. Bean baggage with him and would people take it seriously?” I can see myself in some Dickensian role, those sorts of characters. But I think I might have burnt my bridges with the outright silliness of so much of what I’ve done."

"All jokes about religion cause offence, so it's pointless apologising for them."

"I cry too much and I find it strange. It must be indicative of some issue within me that I’ve yet to identify. Whether it’s crowds or whether it’s people being nice… Hospitals make me cry very, very easily. Merely entering a hospital – just sensing care, you know. People trying to help others, I find, inspires a very emotional response."

"The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society. It becomes a case of either you're with us or against us. And if you're against us, you deserve to be 'cancelled'. It's important that we're exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. So it is scary for anyone who's a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future."

"When I was doing Bean more than I've done him in the last few years, I did strange things; like appearing on chat shows in character as Mr. Bean. I remember going to a book signing as Mr. Bean; it was a Mr. Bean book; and I signed it as Mr. Bean. I just wrote "Mr. Bean" in the book rather than Rowan Atkinson. I was there in costume and in character for the entire time; from arriving in the store till leaving it at the end of the book signing; and it was a fantastically kind of freeing experience, because I could just submerge myself in this character and just behave however I liked. And I didn't care what I did or what I said to anyone; I just became this other person, and it was a wonderful sort of freedom. A wonderful kind of fantasy, where you could just be this thoroughly rather unpleasant, selfish man for an hour; in a totally real context rather than in a fictional context. It was rather extraordinary, actually, and something that I found rather pleasing and rather relaxing."

"The victimisation of individuals or corporations or groups of people is a very dangerous and difficult development. The fact that careers can be ruined and reputations can be savaged without any particular responsibility on the part of those who are doing it… we live in strange times."

"[The French] are so uncompromising in their view of the world, which is why they are such a fantastically rich source of comedy. They are so relentless and so clear in their view of things, and they won't be shoved off that position by anything. What's also good is that, generally speaking, making jokes about the French appears to be something that nobody really minds. The French don't even care, they just go about their lives regardless."

"[O]ne must know that pride is one of the seven deadly sins, so one shouldn't exhibit pride in anything...I don't know...what do I get pride and satisfaction from? I can't think of anything I'm absolutely proud of. If I've done jokes that people liked, then that is pleasing and satisfying. I think probably the thing that I enjoyed in the show, the franchise, the brand or whatever you want to call it, the thing that I found the least stressful might be Blackadder, the sitcom I did in the 1980s. That was good because of this feeling of shared responsibility among a lot of really good actors."

"When presented with an audience or a camera, usually [my stammer] disappeared, but by no means all the time. I can show you some outtakes of Blackadder or The Thin Blue Line when I get to some B's followed by a vowel, which is my real bête noire."

"It does seem to me that the job of comedy is to offend, or have the potential to offend, and it cannot be drained of that potential. Every joke has a victim. That’s the definition of a joke. Someone or something or an idea is made to look ridiculous....In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything."

"We chose Jason because we wanted our model to look like a normal guy. His look is just right for now: very masculine and not too male-modelly."

"The loneliness of Hester and Freddie certainly struck a chord with me. I’ve been the independent one in a relationship, but I’ve also been the one who wanted just a circle of two."

"It wasn't actually in the Olympic Games, but I spent 12 years on the national squad. And it was a great experience, you know, to travel the world and compete at a certain level. It teaches you discipline, focus, and certainly keeps you out of trouble."