Quotes from Zawe Ashton

The chasm between independent film and commercial film is now so wide. You either have to be super-famous and get a first-time director or writer's indie script off the ground, or you're a newcomer and go and put a cape on for four years.

I want to be a successful actor, never a famous star. Because one is an organic meal that will sustain you, and the other is toxic.

Anyone who's been an usher knows it's a training in resilience. But you get such a film education. And the popcorn's free.

The first film I ushered was Lynne Ramsay's 'Morvern Callar.' I started at 18. Best job in the world. Blockbusters, indie films, classic matinees.

It has taken a long time for me to really dress as the artist that I am: I'm an indie girl, I like experimental, I like things to be subverted. Details are the fun part.

I think I've always felt that I want to do a very specific type of work and I've made informed decisions. You know, hopefully be part of a quiet movement or revolution.

Episodic TV is notoriously brutal because just when you think 'I've got this, I know this character' you can pick up the script for series four and you die in the first episode - or your character suddenly transitions from a woman to a man.

I'm training in martial arts. It's a whole new world for me and I'm loving it. I do that or hot yoga; I have to do some kind of exercise.

I actually grew up around the corner from where Harold Pinter did. If you want a snapshot of my childhood, me and Pinter, we essentially grew up together.

Being yourself, or being judged as yourself, is really scary.

I'm a keen experimenter in the kitchen. With food, not with anything else!

Patsy Ferran in Tennessee Williams' 'Summer and Smoke'-I thought that was just one of the most phenomenal performances I've seen from a young woman.

I hate talking about class, but the truth is as an actor you're only going to be doing some really great work if you can afford to be out of work and take the good stuff. If you can't, you're going to be treading quite a different path.

I've never lived in north or west London, so I'd like to come out of my comfort zone for a bit. But Stoke Newington is where my heart is, it's where I'm born and bred.

I didn't grow up with a lot of role models necessarily when I started out - there weren't many people who looked like me on TV. Not in England.

Some people shun the idea of role models but I think it's one of the most important things people have in life - role models, to look up to.

I've had times in the past where I wanted to give up acting, get my head out of the arts because it was like my constitution couldn't deal with it. My job means I get judged on my looks; I get discriminated against because of my sex; I take on roles that are so two-dimensional... you can go mad trying to fill that third dimension.

I have a very short attention span.

I know I'm different and I don't fit in to any kind of generic mould.

I do think about moving out of London a lot, whether that's L.A., whether that's Margate with half of the other Hackneyites.

I was very fortunate to have had three years on 'Fresh Meat,' before working on 'Not Safe for Work.' Comedy drama is a very hard genre to nail so I was very glad to have had some practice.

Secondary school was a lot harder. That was probably my hardest time. Some of the girls were really nasty. I had to move schools because of the bullying there.

Living with the notion that you might never have a permanent spot in the world is really quite a powerful metaphor.

Art galleries are the best first date spots for my money.