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I was already devouring literature and I was the ripe old age of 15 when I decided to be an actor. I just thought plays were the most fantastic way of expressing life. I thought I'd discovered Shakespeare - 'hey, there's a new guy in town, don't know if anyone's read him.' I was just excited about the whole thing, from day one.

When I first started acting, and we would all sit down and talk about Shakespeare and how great it was. I thought well, I suppose it is.

I think Shakespeare is really the one. Words as music and music as words. Everything he wrote was good, which is really frightening.

When I was little, I was a voracious reader, and that really led me to acting as well. I loved being transported into someone else's life, and that's what reading provided me. I also really love to entertain people.

I had an older brother who was very interested in literature, so I had an early exposure to literature, and and theater. My father sometimes would work in musical comedies.

I never wanted to become an actress because I'd read great literature or seen great Shakespeare. It was more just wanting to understand what the people were really like, why they said all the strange things they did.

I've been with Shakespeare all my life.

I grew up seeing a lot of theatre, and it was theatre that really seduced me into acting - not film or television.

I wasn't beautiful, so there were plenty of character roles. I never did any Shakespeare, I'm far too superficial for that. I just act instinctively.

I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.