Colin Firth

The last thing I would attempt to do is to buy clothes for a child I didn't know well.

I can't imagine seeing Batman in black and white. It was such a colourful TV series. I know. I'm ancient. It wasn't abnormal to be without a television in those days. People who had colour were special.

I feel more comfortable in drama. Comedy is a high-wire act. I find it stressful. It's a precision science in a way.

In filming, you're waiting - you're waiting for lights, you're waiting for people to set things up - and when you're not waiting, you're repeating.

Growing up, my mates and I would have rather been Sid Vicious or members of the Royal Family.

My grandmother was a minister as well, which was not that common in the 1930s.

Most actors will tell you they have some sort of dream of doing something other than what they're doing.

I don't want to sound smug but I am reasonably satisfied with how it's gone. I think it's fine.

I backpacked through France and Italy in my teens, and then I was at Cannes with the first movie I did in '84.

Bridget Jones is part of literary lore now and actually to be a part of it is enormously flattering.

People have the idea of missionaries as going out with the Bible and hitting natives with it. It's not really what they were doing. They were all doing something rather different.

It used to be that I was always paranoid or a loser or something so there's usually something that you seem to associate yourself with at one time or another.

Some people would say comedy draws from some dark places, from your dark stuff. Life's great optimists aren't necessarily the funniest people.

I absolutely don't care about my looks and I'm so used to them that I wouldn't change a thing. I would end up missing my defects.

I'm not patient, and some things drive me crazy. In my work, I get incredibly upset when people don't get it right or don't respect others' needs.

I haven't had to struggle very much. I haven't paid my dues. I think I have been lucky.

The English people, a lot of them, would not be able to understand a word of spoken Shakespeare. There are people who do and I'm not denying they exist. But it's a far more philistine country than people think.

One of the things that makes you want to be an actor, speaking only for myself, is that there's something infantile about it. You're suspending disbelief, pretending and entering into a story world.

To be bothered wherever you go - it's not a rational thing to want at all.

We've always been involved with America - I have a son who lives there and it's a big part of my life.