Aneurin Barnard
When I was a kid, I used to pretend to be Bond; I used to make up scenarios and irritate my sister and annoy my mother and father pretending to be someone else, so I kind of was already acting when I was a child. I just didn't really know it.
I wanted to be a stuntman. I've done stunts since I was 11, and wanted to be able to do them whatever kind of work I ended up in. I've had a horse roll on me, but luckily, everything stayed intact.
I try to look after myself, but I don't think it's a good thing to be obsessed with body image. I wouldn't want a son or daughter of mine to feel manipulated by that; it's the wrong message.
I came from a very, very small valley in the middle of South Wales. I grew up there with my father, who's a coal miner, and my mother worked in a normal factory.
I used to just daydream all the time about being in movies, from the age of, like, four onwards. I would sit down and watch movies with my father and my grandfather, and always pretended that I was in the stories.
I remember watching 'A Streetcar Named Desire' when I was quite young, I was about 12, or 13, and I watched it, thinking, 'Wow. That is pretty cool. I'd like to do something like that.'
The biggest thing about me, as an actor, is I'm never a finished product, you know? I always want to try something or be in a new genre because, one, it's much more fun to do that because you're not doing the same thing over and over.
Richard Burton is my number one idol. One, because we come from very similar backgrounds and two, because of his fantastic talent.
I always used to pretend to be different characters - cowboys, that sort of thing. I used to think that the Indians lived over the mountains that I could see out of my bedroom. As I grew up, I started to understand that acting was actually a craft, and there was no question about it, that was exactly what I was going to do.
I do my own stunts; that's something I'm very passionate about. I spent a lot of time on boats as a kid, so it's just nice to be able to put that into use in the job that I do.
If I played Bond, my dad probably wouldn't know what to do with himself. He'd probably put his shoes on the wrong way for the rest of his life!
I never like to stick to one media; whether it's a TV series or feature film, I enjoy it and I like changing constantly.
I like being on a set where you can make decisions and everything is involved and are happy to work together to make the best work. For me, it's all about making the best work and creative people working together and all being respected and all having their opinions of what gives it the best quality is important.
For me, every opportunity is a golden opportunity, so I just need to work as hard as I can to maintain credibility and respect and hopefully people enjoy watching me as an actor.
A friend of mine once, when I was 11 years old, mentioned that there was a youth theater, a local amateur youth theater nearby where young people could go every Sunday. And that's where it began, really.
I was really bored in school because I couldn't do what I wanted to do, which was act. And then when I was 14, a local TV company came to the youth theater, and they were auditioning kids to be in this new TV series.
I realized that the actors that I liked and admired all went to drama school and got an agent that way. So I started when I was about 16 in drama school, and then I knew I had to wait until I was 18 so I could go on auditions, and I tried to get into one of the ones that I liked and then go from there.
I love film, but I feeling a bit needy about returning to the stage.
I want to do something original rather than interpret someone else's performance, which is always the risk - even if it's only in a subconscious way. I want to concentrate on giving my own fresh interpretation.
I'm always eager to work with people I admire, people who have experience, who've made mistakes and made great things. That's the greatest teaching I could ever get in developing my own career.
I think, as a generation of British actors, we're becoming a bit soft and too manipulated by the business.
I know straight away if there are roles I don't want to do, and I have a lot of arguments with my agents about those.
It's so much nicer to be able to do your job with someone who's helping you, and you're helping them. Then, it becomes a tennis match where you're hitting the ball back and forth, and you're a team.
I'm a big believer in playing truth and not doing things for effect. It's not about whether you look pretty or glamorous. It's about whether people connect. That's important to me in any work I do. For me, the key is always trying to find the connection between the audience and the character I'm playing.
Every job I've done so far, every character has been completely different, and that's really important to me because I don't want to fall into a stereotypical box. Of course, every actor has their box, and you have to respect and play for it, but I do love challenging myself.
Love every role to be new, and I always like to bring a freshness to every character I play, but that comes down to the script. So, it's important that it's a good script with good, truthful characters and truthful subjects.
All I did as a child was pretend to be James Bond or Marlon Brando. When I was about four, I put on my dad's work boots and went up and down the street with his walking stick pretending to be Charlie Chaplin.
Award ceremonies are strange because you're sitting next to someone you've never met; you're celebrating with a total stranger.
Fame isn't happiness, but success and being respected in your craft is worth fighting for. You've got to work hard to be noticed.
In 'Citadel,' I play a very young father. When I first signed onto 'Hunky Dory,' I was actually 18 years old.
I try to be respectful and talk to any fan and sign anything that anyone wants. Without the fans, you're not much. You need fans to do this job. I've got a nice little following, and it seems to be growing as each thing comes out.
Different films, different genres show the different things I do. It's nice because it brings different groups of people to following what I'm doing. So hopefully, it kind of reiterates that I'm not just a one-trick pony as well.
For me as a Welsh actor, Richard Burton is one of my biggest idols. And I've got so many: Peter O'Toole, Laurence Olivier and Oliver Reed. If they got 'Hunky Dory' and 'Citadel' offered to them, they would do completely different jobs on both of them.
I like to portray things as close to the bone as possible.
If you have 130 people on set, all with different opinions, sometimes it's going to kick off. There might be some people who say I'm a big problem to work with - that you couldn't tell me anything - but hopefully, they don't.
Personally speaking, tights aren't too comfortable for a man to wear.
I love changing my roles. I think the most important thing that I can do for myself is to keep changing the genres, the periods, the characters themselves.
That's acting for you. 'White Queen' has English playing Welsh and vice versa.
I tend to invest a little more than I should when I do musicals, so it takes a lot out of me and my personal life.
Would still love to do something with the 'Doctor Who' franchise at some point because I know they have a lot of fun.
I love doing my own stunts. I'd love to do a full-on period sword-fighting piece where I get to show off with fighting and horses - I'm up for it.
I've picked a camera up a few times. I remember buying my first camera when I was about 18 and really going wild with it, as you do as an 18-year-old, especially when you're in college.
It's a really good format to have, to go back to theatre and build yourself as an actor. I think it's a great skill to go from screen to stage.
Bond is actually my dream role. Only because it was the film I watched with my grandfathers and father from a very young age, and it would be the only way that I could actually repay them with my art form for what they've done for me.
One thing I learnt was that you don't have to spend all day shooting: you can get it done in half an hour if you're that talented as a cameraman.
When you're doing a play, you're onstage, there's no stopping or starting, there's no stopping to reposition for the camera or have a check done. You're there 'till the end of the show. What that gives you is a great gift, which is to command the audience, and you get to play with your script and your fellow actors. Every night, it's different. Hopefully it goes well and you get a great response. But the technique that you have to have on film or television is so delicate. It's fine-tuning. That is very different from being onstage, but they both have important skill sets.Collection: Night
As long as I'm enjoying what I'm doing, then that's fine. That's what I want. I want to enjoy life. We're only here for a small ride, so it may as well be a good one. If I can go to work enjoying what I do, then my life becomes a very nice one.Collection: Nice
Every day is a work day, and I have to work my ass off just as much as any other guy, doing whatever job they're doing. I believe in commitment and hard work, and hopefully, after that, success comes.Collection: Jobs
I used to just daydream all the time about being in movies, from the age of like, four onwards. I would sit down and watch movies with my father and my grandfather, and always pretended that I was in the stories.Collection: Father
I believe that the greatest music is storytelling anyway, in a heightened medium. So I write a lot of music, and I play a lot with my guitar, I still sing a lot, but now I'm more personal about it than public, in a way. I think there will be a time where I'd like to bring the singing back into some of my performances. It all depends if the material's right, if the story's right, if it's my kind of taste in music, as well. It means so much to me. We all know how affective music can be, I just want to make sure when I do it, I'm doing it because I actually feel it and I care about it.Collection: Believe