Quotes

I think my wife has always been aware, whatever country we have been in, of my dramatic leading man status; a little too dramatic she would probably say.

I don't really have any regrets because if I choose not to do something there is usually a very good reason. Once I've made the decision I don't view it as a missed opportunity, just a different path.

When you are an actor every day kind of morphs into one as there is no set structure to my job.

When I was at drama school I wanted to do classical theatre. It just so happened that I did a film when I came out and I moved that way.

The whole vanity aspect of building up different muscles - I have no interest.

Just to have the opportunity to play an American in America is a dream come true for me.

I'm not going to pretend I'm some saint, because I'm not.

I'm like a magpie. I use lots of different things to build a character.

I spend my working life pretending to be someone else.

I don't feel that fear is a good incentive on a film set.

Atlanta is an incredibly cool city.

I would find myself getting deeply distressed if I lived in hindsight all the time.

I like to think that I've got determination, and I'm fiercely protective of the people I love.

We [This Life (1996) cast] used to socialise a lot, as we were filming as a gang. Everybody would come up to me at nightclubs because they liked Egg and they hated Jack [Jack Davenport]. They thought he was a dick. Jack was like: 'What's going on? I'm really a nice guy.'

Jack [Jack Davenport] was one of the main instruments in making me go to America. He said: 'Come over here. The water's warm.'

[October 2004] [When did you last lose your temper?] My new year's resolution was to give up smoking and, just two days into 2004, the lack of a calming cigarette made me lose it. Some friends and I were taking a diving course in Australia and the instructor was really rude. I lost my temper and called him "a child". I looked like Gary Oldman turning into Dracula. Afterwards I felt terrible and apologised to him.

[October 2004] [When are you at your laziest?] I can be very lazy. It's nice just pootling around, doing nothing. If I sit in front of MTV or Sky Sports, I get really sucked in and can just stay there for ages. But I'm quite busy with work at the moment - I'm appearing in a romantic thriller, Lie With Me, on ITV1 next month, playing a detective. Right now, I'm very focused.

[on not using social media] I've got nothing to say and I'm just too busy. But I don't get it - people taking photos of their own food? That's very odd behaviour. [The PR woman gently objects that she does just that.] Oh God! That's why I'm not on social media - straight away you've isolated half the world!

[on speaking with an American Southern accent for eight months of the year, on-set, off-set and at home in Atlanta, Georgia, during filming of The Walking Dead (2010)] My wife and children think I'm bananas. They're like: 'Please stop doing that.' It's very unsettling for them because they don't know who they're talking to.