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Nothing is more diminishing than trying to control success or hold on to things.

Anne-Marie Duff

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Anne-Marie Duff
Age: 54
Born: 1970
Born: October 8
Actress
Film Actor
Stage Actor
Chiswick
London
Success
Nothing
Trying
Things
Diminishing
Hold
Control

More quotes by Anne-Marie Duff

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In theatre, there's the director, the writer, and below them the actor. In film, it's the actors who are most important. That goes against the grain for me.
Anne-Marie Duff
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People at a point of conflict are always the most interesting stories to tell.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I was quite shy. I used to write stories all the time, and I think that was a worry for my parents.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I didn't really know anything about Margot Fonteyn. I'd never really been a ballet child, so I had no idea what an incredibly huge icon she was, not just in terms of a creative icon - she was also a style icon. I had no idea she was up there with Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis in terms of that kind of image.
Anne-Marie Duff
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You want to have enough of a profile to be able to do all the work you can, but at the same time you want to have your own space. But there are a lot of actors who achieve it, a lot of movie stars even, people like Emily Watson and Cate Blanchett. They seem to be able to carry on with their lives and still produce wonderful, high-profile work.
Anne-Marie Duff
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When I started drama school, theatre was the main draw. I never had any movie star notions. Not that there were family ties to the theatre, either.
Anne-Marie Duff
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The life of an actor is very random. It can be exhilarating but terrifying - you do wonder day to day where the next job will come from. Some of my friends are very talented people, but you see them out of work - which can be tough. If you wanted that kind of security, though, I guess you wouldn't be an actor in the first place.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I am very lucky. I have known wonderful romantic love in my life but to actually see this little creature and find him to be the most beautiful creature in the world. I know all mothers and fathers feel that way.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I suppose it's whether you want to be a famous person, or whether you want to be an actor. You have to decide what your priorities are. Great actor, huge star. Sometimes, the two walk hand in hand. Most of the time, they don't.
Anne-Marie Duff
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For actors, being successful is generally getting a job. If you can work a lot, you're really successful. If you work a lot on projects that are interesting and intelligent and great fun to be part of, then you're hugely successful. And I feel hugely successful. I can't believe that I get to be involved with the projects and the people I work with.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I just would like to keep going. If I kept getting the kind of work that I've been getting for the last 20 years for the next 20, I'd be a bloody Dame of the British Empire. I'd be so happy.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I'm a right pain in the hole for my agent. I won't take certain parts if I think they're offensive or banal. For instance, I won't do a film if I think it's full of violence for violence's sake, or a television drama if I don't think it's intelligent writing.
Anne-Marie Duff
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The experience of having a child does crack you wide open. I felt like I suddenly had to rebuild the skin that I'd grown over the years before having a child. Perhaps that might be quite interesting in terms of acting.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I try very hard not to take work home, but it can be tricky. Sometimes it feels as if you are wearing your costume underneath your own clothes! I suppose things are always ticking away in the back of your mind.
Anne-Marie Duff
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That's the thing - you do a job like 'Shameless,' and suddenly that's why you can get a job like 'The Virgin Queen', not because of all the classical theatre you've done. But we can be very snippy about television. It's absolutely the most potent and powerful form of storytelling we have.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I only went along to youth theatre with a friend when I was young to try to make myself a bit more sociable. But the whole thing was quite sore it really hurt me trying to get into drama school. It was a world I knew nothing about - it was very middle class all that usual stuff. But I was young, determined, and I just went for it.
Anne-Marie Duff
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As I get older, I want to draw on my experience to make roles better. I see that in the older women who inspire me - their experience makes them better.
Anne-Marie Duff
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People can be a bit flagrant when they're having an affair. Most of the time, there's an element of it where they want to be discovered because they're in crisis. They need the boil to be burst, in some way, for a resolution.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I think it helps to have a good old-fashioned trajectory, plodding along. Obviously one has an ego and it's really easy to have that ego tickled, but what helps me get through the night is if I concentrate on just quality of work so that I don't panic about my profile.
Anne-Marie Duff
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I admire people who overcome obstacles or who have to commit - I've always really admired commitment, whether it be a commitment to living or a commitment to love. People who commit to a moment. People who are not somewhere else, but in the room with you.
Anne-Marie Duff