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I'm not scared of many things in front of the camera. Everywhere else, yes, I'm terrified. But acting is just pretending, and you are exploring feelings in a safe environment.

When you get real stage fright, it comes like a sledgehammer out of the blue in the middle of something that you know you've done too many times before, and there's no rhyme or reason for it. It's something quite different from being nervous. It's almost paralysing.

I was once so terrified of acting that I used to pretend I was ill to get out of drama.

I think part of what acting did for me is it kind of represents all my greatest fears. I'm sort of compelled to do it, but at the same time, it's so frightening. But I think that the things that frighten me the most in life are the things I should be doing.

Fear, anxiety and neurosis: that's just in the suitcase when you're an actor.

One of the hardest things to do in acting is to stop thinking about yourself and stop being self-conscious.

Stage fright is my worst problem. A voice is very intimate. It's something of your own. So there's always this fear, because you feel naked. There's a fear of not reaching up to expectations.

Every night when I go out on stage, there's always one nagging fear in the back of my mind. I'm always afraid that somewhere out there, there is one person in the audience that I'm not going to offend!

Acting's all about the confidence you exude, especially on film. I mean, nervousness isn't attractive in anyone, but a film camera will seek it out and punish you.

Showing fear is like having comedic timing because I think actors have a tendency to go way over the top with it, and that sort of loses steam for what's going on. The audience sees right through that and laughs at you, so it is something that I'm aware of.