Quotes from Janet McTeer

People will still love and hurt and yearn.

Yes, I was slightly outside everything when I was growing up. My mother jokes that I was exchanged at birth. She brought us up to have traditional values. She was absolutely not part of the '60s generation.

I love the way we do theatre in London: I love the fact that everybody is trained.

When children arrive, or when some crisis occurs, couples don't have the resources to deal with it because they've been so busy getting on with their lives. They haven't learned how to sit down and discuss things.

You have to capitalise on any success you have and keep doing what you do as well as you can. But how do you define success? In my book, it's to be playing those parts you saw your idols - Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave - playing when they were the age you are now.

When youre a young English person who wants to be an actress and you have dreams, you dream of being Vanessa Redgrave or Judi Dench.

I have become a marketing tool and I feel very uncomfortable with that. There's no space for me to express myself.

I was very nervous about the accent. I was very nervous about being an American.

New Yorkers are either the nicest or the rudest.

People are calling a lot, sending scripts my way. Yes, it's wonderful because, let's face it, there aren't many wonderful scripts for women over the age of 10.

There are some roles that are a no-brainer. You just have a sure, instinctive 'Yes!'

All theater is unpredictable. That's the definition of theater.

We are a very close family, and I love them very much, but I'm definitely the odd one out. I live a completely different kind of life style. I always was different. I felt like a fish out of water; I really never knew who I was.

I feel strongly for the younger actresses when a lot of their career is based on how they look. That must be hard when your looks begin to go and you haven't built up the wealth of character parts to get into something else.

Put a Post-It note on your mirror that says: 'Someone has to succeed. There's no reason why it shouldn't be me.' Repeat before every audition.