To start, I wasn't really interested in acting at all, and I didn't make much impact. The first play I was in was on for five nights and I didn't show up for two of them and nobody noticed. But I stayed because that's where my friends were, and after a while I found myself wanting to inhabit other people's worlds and lives.

Aidan Gillen

Categorized in : Myself Nobody People Friends

Listen, I have to spend every single day living with me, so I know for a fact; I'm lovely, I'm completely lovely.

Aidan Gillen

lovely knows facts

I've always thought darker characters were more fun to play. They're probably not any more complex or interesting than their good, law-abiding cousins, and I'd always tend to see things from their point of view.

Aidan Gillen

cousin fun character

For me, now, working and children is it. Theres nothing more to life.

Aidan Gillen

more-to-life children

I can read people, and if the other person doesn't want to say anything, I'm fine with that. People say things when it's time to say them.

Aidan Gillen

say-anything want people

What is the key to life on Earth?

Aidan Gillen

keys earth

I find still photographs make me quite self-conscious.

Aidan Gillen

photograph conscious self

It is exciting to be off to a new land with a new friend.

Aidan Gillen

new-friends land exciting

I have been in control of what Ive been doing, of the career Ive put together.

Aidan Gillen

has-beens careers together

So-called reality TV, which dominates British channels, is destroying what made it cherishable to me and lots of others in the first place. I loved Alan Clarke, Ken Loach and Alan Bleasdale's work. In fact the first TV dramas I ever saw were 'Screen Twos' produced by David Thompson, who also produced a lot of Alan Clarke.

Aidan Gillen

loved me work reality

I've made a point of trying not to play the same part, and of moving between theatre and film and TV. The idea is that by the time you come back, you have been away for a year and people have forgotten you. If you like having time off, which I do, that's a good career strategy.

Aidan Gillen

good you time people

It's always more interesting to take on someone that's going to have hidden sides or a fatal flaw, because there's going to be more to play with - more conflict, internally or in and around them - but it's probably the thing of finding the positive in there.

Aidan Gillen

finding someone conflict positive

Everything's borne out of human experience, of course - rejection, humiliation, poverty, whatever. People aren't born bad, no matter how harsh the circumstances. There is a person in there, and that person is not made of ice.

Aidan Gillen

bad poverty experience people

I hate it when people tell you you're good when you know that you're not.

Aidan Gillen

good you hate people

I heat myself up over the fact that I am never going to be as good as I want to be.

Aidan Gillen

i-am never good myself

Every couple of years - no, that's every couple of weeks - I think I'm going to give up acting.

Aidan Gillen

going think acting years

I don't really differentiate between different genres: if there's a good part going, I'll go after it, and it's preferable to me if it's something I haven't done before.

Aidan Gillen

good go me done

I do what I can, but I'll always give it a shot. You're not going to see me playing a Welsh character any time soon, not because I wouldn't love to. I went up to Wales once and read for a film with Rhys Ifans, and haven't been asked back since. We did have a nice time on the train on the way back.

Aidan Gillen

me time love character

I have Googled myself, yeah, I think everybody has. I try not to make a habit of it - in fact I made a rule once never to Google myself, which made me happy.

Aidan Gillen

myself think me happy

I didn't want to go to college or work in an office or have a nine-to-five job. I knew that quite clearly before I left school.

Aidan Gillen

job college work school

It seems to me that most characters, in anything, are flawed in some way, just like most people. You look for the good in the flawed people and vice versa, and then try and make them appealing in some way.

Aidan Gillen

good me you people