Samantha Morton

I'm an actor. That's what I'm gifted at. It's what makes me breathe.

I will check the internet for at least an hour every morning scanning worldwide news to do with child abuse. So if you're constantly putting yourself in an environment where you're checking up on social economics or homelessness problems, if you keep yourself aware of it, you don't really have a day off.

For anyone who's been in care, successfully coming through the system is nothing to with money or success; it's the ability to feel love and be loved in return.

I like to stretch my acting muscles.

It's not about the money with me.

People often ask me, was it hard to play this person or that person? Well, no, not really. Acting is what I do. It's my job.

My mind boggles at the amount of violence inflicted upon children in today's society.

We're all living blinkered lives, and we're not seeing what's going on and looking to change it. I'm not saying that everyone has to make a political statement, but we need to be more aware of what's happening and why.

I was physically abused and I retaliated.

I was angry but not at God. I feel that you are closer to God when you are messed up. Definitely. That's when you most need God, and God cannot control what man does.

It's like I understand images and some people understand poetry.

Everyone wants to look their best, everyone has dreams of wanting to look like something else. But we are who we are.

I think anybody who has been abused as a kid - and I was abused as a kid, by various people - will say it's irrational because violence is irrational.

The more visionary the idea, the more people it leaves behind.

I have worked very hard on being aware of my childhood but moving forward and not letting it bring me down emotionally. That is a hard thing - especially when you have children of your own and you remember what happened to you at that age.

When you've been raised in care, rap music isn't just about guns and sexism. They're talking about real things you can hang on to, problems of identity that you have sympathy with. It's not just about the music, with rap: when I was in care, it meant a whole lot more than that.

What shocks me is that so many people leave care and become homeless, and when you're homeless you get into crime, prostitution and drugs, and it is a vicious circle. That's what we need to change.

I believe it is my duty as a performer to raise issues in the world of things we're afraid to look at.

I've been in front of a camera since I was a little girl, and that's the medium I understand.

I think anybody who has been abused as a kid and I was abused as a kid by various people will say its irrational because violence is irrational.

I'm not a writer. I think I can write short stories and poetry, but film writing, brilliant film writing, is a talent - you can't just do it like that.

I am proud of what I've done.

Catholicism played such a huge part in my life, I would not have survived without my faith.

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

To be honest with you, a lot of directors can be very lazy.

You've got all these books on self help, getting to know yourself, doing the right thing, eating the so-called right foods, even down to what books you have on your shelves. People are encouraged to look to themselves first as opposed to being a part of society.

I'll never get a part in a huge action blockbuster.

Some directors cast you because they trust you to do the performance - but then they forget to direct you.