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There's an inordinate amount of attention put on actors. Some people want to make their lives public, but that doesn't mean everybody does.

There are many different ways the public can respond to actors - they can see you on TV and feel they know you and own you, and there can be something quite cornering about that.

You are exposing yourself all the time as an actor. There's the risk of being thought of as bad or boring or unattractive.

People become actors because they want to hide, and it's not easy to talk about myself. I accept that a certain responsibility goes with being an actor in the public eye, but I haven't found a comfortable way to deal with it.

I think maybe even one of the reasons I became an actor was actually to hide. I mean, it sounds paradoxical because, of course, people are standing up in a public place and encouraging other people to look at them. So that's not the conventional definition of hiding.

I guess I prefer to be quite private. It's a myth that actors are exhibitionists.

As an actor, I think it's really important to be as anonymous as possible. It's your job to convince people that you are somebody else, and so any recognition I'd get away from the screen - well, it's not something I actively seek. To be honest with you, I'm surprised anybody does.

As an actor, there are so many different people to hide behind.

I think actors are attracted to the idea of other identities and concealing themselves behind some other identity.

There's a oneness to showing yourself to an audience. They feel that. It's healthy. That's what acting is all about.