They told me I would find it difficult to find work because of the way that I look and they weren't wrong. [laughs] I thought, Well, I'll prove you wrong because I genuinely believed that the world was a more diverse place than they perhaps viewed it to be.

Genuine and true love is so rare that when you encounter it in any form, it's a wonderful thing, to be utterly cherished in whatever form it takes.

I never wanted to be a fashion designer, although there is a book somewhere of fashion design I did for a collection when I was seven years old. I always wanted to be an actor.

I heard that a lot and I just sort of thought, the world was an even more interesting place than the people who were making the decisions were perhaps interpreting it to be.

I'm certainly really rather tall at 6 foot 3, and I've been this way since I was 14, but for years, women who are even 5 foot 10 have come up to me in the street and said, 'Oh, it's so nice to see a woman who is taller than me. I've always felt like a giant.'

I was a semi-professional gymnast as a child. I did rhythmic gymnastics, but I sustained an injury and strained all the muscles in my spine.

I had done lots of theater and I really wanted to do screen work. I said to my agent, Look, I really want to do screen work and I want to concentrate on that now and he said, Well, it's going to be tough for you.

I built stages and I did stage management - I think I built the sets twice, I happened to be good with a drill, which is a talent I didn't know I had.

I was really, really lucky because I have always worked. It hasn't always been consistent, but I have always worked.

I did rhythmic gymnastics and I absolutely adored it. I was in the squad for Sussex. I wasn't stupendous, but it was something that I was good at and I really loved the combination of discipline and expression. That, to me, was just dreamy.

Everyone has something that defines them, whether they're wildly intelligent or whether they have really big feet.

I read the books and I really, really wanted to play the part. I started kundalini yoga, kickboxing and running, and completely changed my diet. I felt I wanted to undergo what was necessary for the part. I love a challenge. And I love defying limitation, gender stereotypes and people’s expectations of me as an actress.

Part of the reason why I love acting is that you do hope that somehow your work will connect to people and somehow expand their consciousness somewhat, and being able to challenge notions of prejudice through work - through my work - is really thrilling.

As a woman, we all want to feel attractive. We all want to feel that we're making the very best of ourselves so we can accept ourselves.

I'm just not wearing any makeup. People thinking I'm wearing prosthetics of all sorts, I just don't have any makeup on.

The freedom to be someone else entirely and be different versions of something. That's what I loved and I loved watching movies and I loved watching television, I loved reading books. That kind of escapism into another world was my favorite thing.