Sheridan Smith

People can never work out where they know me from. They just come up and chat with me like mates.

I do love Louboutin shoes, but I need to stop buying them because I don't go to many 'dos,' so they just line up. I'm normally in my trainers.

I prefer theatre to television - you get to feel the love.

When I was 16, I played Tallulah in 'Bugsy Malone' at the Queen's Theatre. Me and five others shared a flat together in Blackheath. It was brilliant being 16 and living in London with my mates.

Kathy Burke has been a real inspiration. I think she's brilliant. I like the fact she doesn't care what she looks like on TV and just gets really into character. Obviously, she can do drama as well, but it's her comedy I love.

I'm grateful to be working. The most exciting thing for me is that I never get bored - I've done comedy, drama, musical theatre and now Shakespeare.

I'm always wearing Spanx, eating ice cream and feeling a bit lonely.

I pull my eyelashes when I'm tired or thinking - it's a nervous thing.

When I saw 'Legally Blonde' on Broadway, I rang my agent and said 'I want to be seen for this,' but the rest weren't big choices, really. 'Hedda Gabler' was a phone call offering it to me, and as I've said before quite embarrassingly, I didn't know the play, so I didn't sit there thinking 'I would now like to tackle Ibsen.'

Appearing in 'Legally Blonde' has helped me find my inner girl, although at the beginning the director was constantly telling me off for sitting like a boy, with my legs apart, while wearing a cocktail dress and heels!

When you're hiding behind a character all the time, as soon as you have to be yourself, you feel kind of terrified.

I swore on screen when I got the Olivier for 'Legally Blonde,' I was so surprised. Awards where the public vote mean a lot. I'm a big Twitter fan and like talking to people who support me.