Talulah Riley

I've been an actress for years, and I've worked with one female director. Statistically it's less than 7% or 12% - I mean, it's low, not representative. So, hopefully, more women will be given opportunities to direct, or create opportunities to direct themselves.

Dark matter is interesting. Basically, the universe is heavier than it should be. There's whole swathes of stuff we can't account for.

I went to quite an academic school, and all my friends were going to university, but even before my acting jobs, I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to spend another three years being institutionalised, and I feel that getting out of that system benefited me in quite a few ways.

Boys are like puppies, but the thing I find terrifying is how do you steer them?

I'm terribly, horribly shy.

Yoga is the one L.A. thing I actually like.

I think I was a pretty normal student; I just followed most of my friends.

I got into physics through pop science and quantum science and ended up being such a quantum groupie.

The writers who inspire me most are all women: Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Margaret Mitchell and Emily and Charlotte Bronte. As for contemporary novels, one of my favourites is 'Everyone Brave is Forgiven' by Chris Cleave. It's the sort of book to read if you've fallen out of love with reading - it reminds you just how brilliant novels can be.

I'm terrified I'm about to die, or that all the people I love are about to die, every second of every day.

I'm not some sort of tormented soul looking for an identity in the roles I take. I became an actress because I just love dressing up and playing.

Initially, I studied philosophy, because it claimed to give you answers to the meaning of existence, but it didn't: It was basically a semantics game.