Lennie James
My foster mother wanted to create a family home. For me, she had made a place that I felt I could always go back to, and that was what she was trying to do for these kids.Collection: Home
When I was growing up and watching 'The Sweeney,' the notion of police officers being an inch away from the villains that they're chasing was commonplace.
I like arriving somewhere and taking a left when someone tells you to go right. When all the tourist signs are pointing one way, it's exciting to go the other.
My favorite television show of all time is 'Hill Street Blues.' I think it's the show that is to television what Pele was to football or Muhammad Ali was to boxing.
One of the things I liked about playing Tony Gates in 'Line of Duty' was that I don't think he gave much thought to justifying his actions until he was under investigation.
I owe 'Jericho' my whole time in America, really. It was a fantastic group of people to work with.
I'm not a broad comic, but I think I can be funny and I think I make people laugh.
I was dreading all of the ghost stories of working on American television, not in the least, the length. In Britain, a series is six episodes of an hour drama, maybe sometimes eight, but never twenty-two, so I was petrified of that.
I'm not setting 'Jericho' up to be anything other than what it is, which is, you know, a piece of good, well thought-out, well put-together TV and entertainment.
My thing is, I like playing guys who have a really interesting internal monologue.
I don't usually like talking about acting or what my process is, and all those kinds of things, because I don't necessarily think it's helpful to talk about how I do my job.
I've worked in the theater, television, and films. A five-hour TV series is certainly more time than a character I'd be playing in a film.
I will say that when I first came out to the States to work on 'Jericho,' that was the only time that I've ever been frightened about a job, because in America they tell stories over such a long time, and I was petrified that I'd get bored.
I've written virtually as long as I've acted, it wasn't a sudden transition. I acted in my first play when I was 16 and I wrote my first play when I was 17.
I went to an all boys' school in South London and the only god was sport.
I'm part of that generation that grew up watching TV, and being an actor was all about being on TV or being in films.
One of the things I learnt over the years is that there is a craft to writing, like there is a craft to acting. I hadn't done my apprenticeship as a writer. I did try to be a writer for hire but I'm not any good at it.
If you look in real life, it is very hard to describe people as good people, bad people, heroes or villains. People aren't bad people. They all have their justifications.
The death penalty in the U.S. has become a political tool - and it should never be that.
'The State Within' demands a certain intelligence from its audience. It doesn't just wash over you - it asks for commitment. And that's a really good thing.
I particular enjoy the crime writer, Walter Ellis Mosley. He does a series of Chandler-esque detective stories.
I did a film once in the Sahara. It was pretty awe-inspiring. I remember sitting up on the roof of our hotel, watching the sun go down, and all around me, for 360 degrees, was nothing but sand. It took your breath away but also made you feel tiny.
I'd really like to go Sydney. I've been to Australia a few times, but I have never been there.
I was focused on either being a social worker or physiotherapist. That was the direction I was going until I met a girl who wanted to be an actress, and I wanted to be close to the girl, so I followed her into an audition.
The fact that I lost my mum was horrible, and if I could change anything, I would definitely change that.
In the kids' home I was in, there was very little change of staff. People stuck around, and they stuck around because they were being paid enough to stay there and raise their families. If you're not supporting the people looking after the kids, you're not supporting the kids, and you might as well chuck them all in the bin.
They shut down kids' homes, for a number of reasons, and I was part of that transition into foster care. That's all well and good if it's populated by people who feel their work is paid decently and supported.
I became politicised in my mid teens, at the time of ska and 2 Tone and the Anti-Nazi League, when I'd get dressed up for a night out in my white socks and loafers, and the last thing I'd hear is, 'Have a good night - be careful of the police.'
I don't remember when I didn't know about Martin Luther King.
I read the 'Guardian,' because it's a bit like having an argument with a mate. We mostly have the same sensibilities, but where we disagree, it's infuriating.
The Internet links me to friends and family around the world. Skype rocks!
I'm pretty much a London boy, and it was a big enough city to try and conquer.
All the great shows owe a lot to 'Hill Street Blues.'
We did four months on 'Line of Duty' from beginning to end, and that would be a long theater run.
When I'm playing an American, I don't play Lennie with an American accent. They're American characters who look like me, but they have different voices.
I love writing but don't get a huge amount of time to do it.
There was a point when I thought I would primarily be a writer, but the acting seems to have got in the way. So when I do get a chance, I jump at it.
Doors being closed or made harder to open is something I'm very familiar with - and I don't like it.
I like to come home regularly and, when I do, I need something to do on Saturdays. I can't think of anything better than the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
The breadth of work that's possible is wider and deeper for someone who looks like me in the States than it is in the U.K.
Partners and mothers allow men to get away with too much.
If you're very clearly good or you're very clearly bad, then there isn't that much internal dilemma going on, and that's not necessarily as interesting to play.Collection: Play
I like playing guys where it's as important what they're thinking as what they're saying. Those are the people I like playing, and the actor that I strive to be. I like actors who work in that area and I like parts that allow me to work in that area.Collection: Thinking