Quotes from Vanessa Kirby

My hair has been so wrecked over the years by various things.

I don't have a lot of instinctive fashion style myself.

I did The 'Acid Test' at the Royal Court, by Anya Reiss, who's the most wonderful, amazing female writer. She was only 19 when she wrote it. She wrote it about three girls in a flat on a Friday night, and that was magic because it was so rare to have three girls in your age group in a play. It just doesn't happen.

Growing up, the image I had of Princess Margaret was completely different. I knew that she was a slightly tragic figure, but I didn't know why. Now, I love her with my all my heart. She was such an amazing person, and getting to 'know' her better was an honor.

I love the Sixties and all those iconic women, Bridget Bardot and things like that, so I tend to lean towards those sorts of things.

I always saw myself as a stage actress, and that was the reason I wanted to act, but very slowly, I've changed.

I've always been pretty indifferent towards the royal family. I went on a school trip once to Buckingham Palace, and all I can remember is that it was really boring.

When I first started doing screen work, I thought, 'I'm not beautiful enough for this profession - all the actresses I watch on screen are gorgeous and beautiful goddesses, but I'm just a scrawny, scruffy girl from southwest London.'

Chris McQuarrie cast me in 'Mission Impossible' because he'd seen 'The Crown' and loved it.

I feel people naturally have a brightness. When that is extinguished by circumstances - be it a wrong marriage or a situation that you cannot leave psychologically - there's something about that dying spark that I'm drawn to playing.

Some of my favourite characters have been people like Masha in 'Three Sisters' and Elena in 'Uncle Vanya.'

I always go for the underdog or the rogue or the rebel.

I've always been so uninterested in playing any kind of archetype of some pure, innocent, virginal woman. I just don't believe it.

I've got a really tight group of friends from university and school who help me forget what I do and keep me grounded.

When I was auditioning for drama school and looking for a monologue, it was all, 'I'm whinging about my period or my baby that has died or my boyfriend...' Why can't you have a normal girl, talking about ideas?

I'm not interested in being known for anything other than the work.

My characters are always unlucky in love. It's annoying, but perhaps there is something in me that is suited to characters that have a darkness. Maybe it's why I play such damaged people when I'm not particularly damaged myself, I would say.

I'm interested in what stops people getting what they want.

When you see yourself on a 40-ft. screen. you go, 'Oh My God! I look so weird!'

As I'm getting older, I feel like maybe I need to grow up a bit.

My favourite thing is cooking for my friends. There are 13 of us who all met at university. They come round once a week, and I make a huge lasagne.

I do tend to find when you're playing characters, often - just for the time you're playing them - there are sides of your personality that get stronger because you draw on them more.

Peter Morgan's writing is so much about what you don't say: you're saying one thing but there's 10 other things going on, and those are the best writers like Chekhov... they're masters at a sort of naturalism, and yet there is all the subtext.

I went to a very academic school, but I never really quite... I think because not that many people were particular creative or arty, I felt a little bit different.