My Wife And I Use A Lot

Every Job Is Different. I Don't Think That I've Ever Had That Wonderful Feeling When You've Finished A Job Or Where You Feel Like You've Mastered It Or Sort Of Nailed It... You Can Never Be Satisfied. If You're Satisfied, It's Time To Retire.

I Think I Went Through Early Years Of My Career Sort Of Thinking, "well, Maybe I'm Just Not British Enough." And I Always Remember My Father Saying To Me, "don't Think You're English, Because However English You Feel, Some Englishman Is Going To Remind You That You're Not." Now, For Him It Must Have Been A Much More Acute Experience, Because He Immigrated To England. I Was Born There, So I Kind Of Felt I Had The Right To Assume That I Was British, But It's True. The English Are A Very Warm And Welcoming People, But There's A Streak In There That Reminds You, Occasionally.

I Think, Because Of My Background, Which Is Slightly More Exotic Than The Average British Actor, I Think, I Sort Of Occupied This Little Niche Quite Early On Of Playing The Foreign Guy. It Started Way Back At Drama School, I Played An Eastern European Heavy, I Played The Russian Mobster. And I Have Done All Those Different Ethnic Roles, And I Think It's Partly Because Of My Look, I Think I've Got An Adaptable Sort Of Nondescript Ethnicity, Which You Can't Quite Pin Down, But It's Enough To Kind Of Get A Flavor Of Something.

And I Think It's Because Good Cons Are All Based On The Victim's Need, And The Successful Con Artist Is The One, I Guess, Who Can Exploit That. I Remember Reading Something About This, That One Of The Great Traits Of Confidence Tricksters Is The Level That They Flatter Their Victim.

The Worst Thing That An Actor Can Do Is Go Into Any Project With A Lack Of Respect For The Material. You Can Have An Opinion About It, But You Have To Respect Yourself In Doing It.