Robert Carlyle

I loved cinema while growing up and, for the longest time, wanted to be a director.

To pursue a career in Hollywood you have to have a personality bypass. Look at the top 20 stars in the world - there's probably only two actors among them. Hollywood's not about you as an actor. It's about your currency, what you 'bring to the table'. And I've never been one to jump through hoops for anyone.

A lot of Scots have settled in Canada over the years and it's a very easy place for Scots - they understand us, we understand them.

When I look back at it now, my past and the way I grew up, I grew up on communes.

The U.K. and the U.S. are very different countries, and it really shows in the television.

In troubled times the last thing you want to do is to stick your money into a film. It's such a gamble.

The script will point you in certain directions and I go the opposite if I can. I try do do one thing and tell a different story with my eyes. I believe what's more interesting is always what's not being said.

Acting is a really insular thing.

To be honest I don't think I was any great shakes as a theatre actor because everything I was doing was really small in size - intimate.

The thing I miss the most about Scotland is the football.

People in Scotland appreciate homegrown talent, but it's getting harder and harder to get films made in Britain.

I'd totally be attracted to a geek girl!