Rose Byrne

The British are so funny.

All forms of contact are good: letters, parcels, e-mails - I've been trying to get a Webcam for my computer, but I'm such a Luddite.

You see someone on the street wearing an outfit and then it's on the cover of a magazine. I love. But, you know, I'm Australian, so I'm not too flashy or glitzy.

The British are so funny. It's like they can't believe I lived in Hackney. 'You could live in Bondi Beach. Why would you want to live in 'Ackney?' But Hackney's fantastic. I'm serious. There are so many artists there. I loved the markets, the parks, the pubs, the diversity. It was a cultural melting-pot.

I see myself more as a character actress than a celebrity.

There's a lot of intensity when you're on a set. And then it just goes away and no one's giving you attention or flooding you with compliments.

I've always thought of myself as more of a character actress. I've tried to do different things, but I've always been under the radar and that's how I like it. I've been really blessed to work this long and I just hope I continue to get better and better and better and better.

Where I am now, you're very much at everybody else's mercy. You have no control over your career in a lot of ways. It's just important to know what your own goals are, because that's empowering.

Being an actor is mostly about rejection and being out of work. It was a fast lesson in all of that stuff.

I think its important to keep an element of fear about yourself because it makes you appreciate the jobs.

I liked the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest and Cypress Hill.

I loved performing; I was always trying to impress my siblings by being a clown. I think that came from being the runt of the litter.

I'm the youngest of four, and I'm always the clown - making the jokes, wanting attention.

I tend to spiral out of control if I'm not working. I get panicked and don't know what to do with myself.

I often do very serious roles, but really I am a big clown.

I used to go to rave parties, too, but I was never savvy with techno.

At a certain point, I got into the older, cooler crowd, and they listened to hip-hop. I was desperately trying to fit in.

I'm ambitious but I'm not particularly competitive. I'll try to get roles, as I think it's healthy to go for things, but... I think there's too much competition between women already. It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.

I'm in love with the city. You can impress an Australian with a city, but you can't impress them with a beach.

They think I'm depressed because I look serious in photos. It's usually because I'm just nervous. But I've stopped dressing for other people. If I think I look good, that's the most important thing.

It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.

My parents were so relaxed by the time I was growing up that I got away with a lot more.

I've already started saying that I'm 30 when I'm still 29. That way, I'm already there.

TV is very much a producer and writer or creator-driven machine in the States. And I'm the kind of actor that needs to be pushed and have someone on my case a little bit, so I suffer from that.

Art, a book, a painting, a song, can definitely inspire change, whether it's a small change or a big change but you know there's novels I've read or a scene in a film that I've seen where I definitely inspired something and made a change or addressed an issue in my life or done something cliche like make a phone call.

Here in L.A. the standard of beauty is kind of ridiculous. I want to be doing this when I'm in my fifties and sixties and this isn't what I'm going to look like.