The life of an actor is very random. It can be exhilarating but terrifying - you do wonder day to day where the next job will come from. Some of my friends are very talented people, but you see them out of work - which can be tough. If you wanted that kind of security, though, I guess you wouldn't be an actor in the first place.

Anne-Marie Duff

Categorized in : People Jobs Actors

I am very lucky. I have known wonderful romantic love in my life but to actually see this little creature and find him to be the most beautiful creature in the world. I know all mothers and fathers feel that way.

Anne-Marie Duff

mother beautiful father

There are some roles you just don't say 'no' to. Those compass points: you get them so rarely as an actress.

Anne-Marie Duff

compass actresses roles

People can be a bit flagrant when they're having an affair. Most of the time, there's an element of it where they want to be discovered because they're in crisis. They need the boil to be burst, in some way, for a resolution.

Anne-Marie Duff

want people way

I think age is sometimes just a number. But it's a real joy. Young actors don't come with any of the baggage that we load ourselves up with. They're not worried about their profile, they're not worried about how good they look, or all the nonsense. They just tell the story and ask: "What happens in this scene?" Well, I'll do that then. And professionally it's good for you because it means that you're forced to do the same thing, and that's always a good thing.

Anne-Marie Duff

real mean thinking

I was very lucky in that my parents were very broad-minded. Because they had come from another country and hadn't been able to fulfill their dreams, they wanted me to be more of myself, if you know what I mean.

Anne-Marie Duff

dream mean country

I admire people who overcome obstacles or who have to commit - I've always really admired commitment, whether it be a commitment to living or a commitment to love. People who commit to a moment. People who are not somewhere else, but in the room with you.

Anne-Marie Duff

somewhere-else people commitment

You just grow up and learn to think instead of just feel.

Anne-Marie Duff

growing-up grows thinking

As I get older, I want to draw on my experience to make roles better. I see that in the older women who inspire me - their experience makes them better.

Anne-Marie Duff

roles want inspire

You can't worry too much about profile; otherwise, you become a different kind of actor, and that's not the kind of actor I want to be.

Anne-Marie Duff

too-much different worry

I think American drama is at its best when it takes the domestic and makes it epic, like a Greek tragedy in the front room.

Anne-Marie Duff

epic drama thinking

I suppose it's whether you want to be a famous person, or whether you want to be an actor. You have to decide what your priorities are. Great actor, huge star. Sometimes, the two walk hand in hand. Most of the time, they don't.

Anne-Marie Duff

stars two hands

The level of sacrifice in the world of dancing is incredibly intense, that work ethic if nothing else - get up, go to class, rehearsal, performance, get up, go to class - that's your life, and it's like that for a finite time, usually.

Anne-Marie Duff

sacrifice dancing class

I was quite shy. I used to write stories all the time, and I think that was a worry for my parents.

Anne-Marie Duff

worry writing thinking

Nothing is more diminishing than trying to control success or hold on to things.

Anne-Marie Duff

trying

I'm not a great beauty. That's not me.

Anne-Marie Duff

I didn't really know anything about Margot Fonteyn. I'd never really been a ballet child, so I had no idea what an incredibly huge icon she was, not just in terms of a creative icon - she was also a style icon. I had no idea she was up there with Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis in terms of that kind of image.

Anne-Marie Duff

icons children ideas

The first thing that attracts me to any script is the writing. If I find myself becoming lost in a good yarn, then I feel certain that others will, too.

Anne-Marie Duff

yarn scripts writing

That's the thing - you do a job like 'Shameless,' and suddenly that's why you can get a job like 'The Virgin Queen', not because of all the classical theatre you've done. But we can be very snippy about television. It's absolutely the most potent and powerful form of storytelling we have.

Anne-Marie Duff

queens powerful jobs

I just would like to keep going. If I kept getting the kind of work that I've been getting for the last 20 years for the next 20, I'd be a bloody Dame of the British Empire. I'd be so happy.

Anne-Marie Duff

next lasts years

I sometimes think it's like a weird elastic band. The more tragic your work is, the quicker you snap back. There's a catharsis in telling a miserable old tale; you get rid of demons.

Anne-Marie Duff

catharsis band thinking