Alex Kingston
I lead a very quiet life and never court publicity. I don't go to a restaurant and let slip I'm leaving by the back door, like some celebrities.
It's so important to spend your free time with little people. They grow up before you know it. Childhood is gone in the blink of an eye.
To be honest, 'Doctor Who' fans are a mixture of crazies plus solid citizens, but they're relentless.
Californians don't have that marvelous British cynicism, but then the British can be so patronizing at times.
If you are the one who is dumped, then you feel like your life is over.
I love playing strong feisty women, I really do, but if you were to ask my husband he'd probably say that I'm very insecure. And actually incredibly malleable, which isn't necessarily a good thing.
The truth is, I'm not a coper. I hate stress. I might appear calm externally but internally it's all going on.
I think if you live in London, it's such a cosmopolitan city; nobody even notices different-race relationships. I assumed it would be even more liberal in the States, and it's totally the opposite.
In England, 'Doctor Who' has always been considered a children's show, at least by children.
Children's programming in America, I think it's pretty shoddy in terms of lack of diversity. It's pretty much cartoons and Disney sort of shows. I don't find any of that stimulating for children.
I don't think my looks are modern. I always imagined I'd end up doing Chekhov, Ibsen and Shakespeare all my life and never play a contemporary character.
I've never been a size zero, let me say that here and now. I've never been that sort of person.
Even when I was at school, I wanted to be liked by everyone, even the bullies. I didn't like them, but I needed to know that they liked me.
I think a lot of actors need validation. If you see truly amazing actors perform, they expose themselves to such an incredible degree. You can really see their pain.
One of my sisters is physically and mentally handicapped. She took a lot of my parents' attention, so I grew up in my own world, playing in my room for hours and hours.
Having been in Hollywood as a shadow, as someone who is almost invisible, I can see fame for what it is.
For premieres, you get designers offering to dress you for the evening, which is nice.
I think I'm an extremely good mother. I know I'm an extremely good mother. But I didn't realise how much it sucks out of you.
In England, there just isn't that fascism of beauty and physicality or whatever. You don't have to look like a gym bunny, all buffed up and a size two. You're not judged the way you are in the States.
When I was pregnant, I did Kundalini yoga. It was all closing your eyes, dancing around, and putting your hands together to form birth canals for people to pretend to be a baby coming out.
Most Americans don't even know that Minnie Driver is English or that Catherine Zeta Jones is Welsh, but people are reminded every time 'ER' is shown that I'm the British Dr. Corday.
Social media worries me because it's not part of my world.
I have a computer and an iPad, but I have no interest in Twitter.
I enjoyed my schooldays, but I thought, 'I've got to get through it, and then my life can start.'
I went through about 13 rounds of IVF before I got pregnant with Salome; it was very tough.
In America, people come up and to me, and I keep thinking they're going to say, 'Oh, I loved you on 'ER.'' Now it's, 'Oh, I love you on 'Doctor Who.''
'Doctor Who' is really challenging and fulfilling on so many levels.
The cast of 'ER' is very close, and everyone has treated me so well.
I normally have a healthy fear of journalists.
If anyone out there wants me to play a Pre-Raphaelite character, I'd do it in a flash. That's what is so curious about my playing a modern doctor. It's not the sort of part I saw for myself when I began acting.
I will always wear what I want and have some fun doing it. I'm not afraid to take risks with my appearance. I'm not so vain.
My life isn't interesting enough for anyone to hack my phone.
Interviews usually upset me in one way or another.
My daughter was born in the States, and she went into the educational system here.
Cleopatra is one of the roles that I would love to do!
Given the amount of work and time my mum devoted to my sister, it left me a lot of time to play on my own. I mean, I played with kids in the street all the time, too - I definitely wasn't denied a childhood. But I do wonder whether, in a sense, acting was my way of getting noticed.
I'm actually very vulnerable and sensitive.
I live a very boring life.
It's wrong for women to be constantly shy and embarrassed about their bodies. There are so many images of unattainable beauty that are so destructive. It's important to show how your body really is. As the cliche has it, beauty comes from within.Collection: Important
I think people think celebrities get babies really easily, like Angelina Jolie, but they don't hear about the ones who aren't successful because we don't like talking about it, it's too painful.Collection: Baby
I didn't have any qualms. I'm used to taking my clothes off in front of strangers. I've done it since I was 14 - with my mother's adult education art classes. She liked to paint and I went along as a life model.Collection: Mother
I think if you live in London, it's such a cosmopolitan city, nobody even notices different-race relationships. I assumed it would be even more liberal in the States, and it's totally the opposite.Collection: Thinking
About California... "I thought it was an appalling place. Then I went through a period of being amused by it. Now it's sort of both. Californians don't have that marvelous British cynicism, but then the British can be so patronizing at times.Collection: California