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My parents didn't go to university and weren't brought up in England. They hadn't heard of any other universities other than 'Cambridge' or 'Oxford.'

My dad, in particular, was adamant that I should finish my education. He encouraged me to go to Oxford, for instance, and I rather doubt I'd have gone if he hadn't. I would have gone straight back to L.A. and tried to start my career.

My mum wanted me to go to university.

Luckily my parents were not against my ambition, they've always been very supportive. But they were adamant that I went to university first.

I could, I think, quite easily have gone to Oxford. I got four good A levels, but my father's income was such that I wouldn't have got a grant, and he wouldn't let me go to university, and that was the end of it.

I think my parents did want me to go to university just in case, but neither my mum or dad went to uni, so they couldn't talk.

I didn't even have a clear idea of why I wanted to go to Oxford - apart from the fact I had fallen in love with the architecture. It certainly wasn't out of some great sense of academic or intellectual achievement. In many ways, my education only began after I'd left university.

Even if a university should turn out to be another version of a school, I had decided I could lose myself afterwards as an anonymous particle of the London I already loved.

I kept on telling my parents school wasn't for me. And they were like, 'No you need to go university.'

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.