Initially I probably didn`t even call it acting, but dressing up or something. As a kid I think you fully imagine the world in which you want to inhabit, so you put some clothes on and just kind of freely imagine this world, and it`s a total imaginary world.

I think I`m much less self confident today. I actually went through a quite painful period because of that thinking that I was completely hopeless. But I think that`s something that we all go through at various times of our lives and it was quite a sustained thing with me.

I`m `of the world`. There was a time when I thought, `Oh, I must go back to England. I feel English.` Then I went and the longer I was away, the more Australian I felt. Now, I`ve come back here and I don`t feel entirely Australian. But I certainly feel like this is my country. This is where I live and this is where I want to work.

I generally find an affinity with a lot of the people I play and I suppose if I didn`t feel an affinity for them then they wouldn`t be particularly good performances.

You`re certainly pushed into selling yourself as a commodity in order to sell the product. I will engage in the selling of the film. But I will try not to engage in the selling of the image, because I find that it`s easier to go on and make another film, because the next character is actually obstructed if your image is bigger than it. So the longer you keep the mask on, metaphorically and physically, the better.

It`s kind of chased away a few demons for me and, um, it`s educated me a little bit more.

I guess I judge my films by how pleased I am with the work I do, so it`s kind of on another level. If they do well at the box office, then that`s great. Then I`m really pleased about that too.

I think I said something like The Interview (1998) was the most fulfilling experience from an acting point of view. And it definitely was. That was a combination of working with a director who was very open and very prepared, and ... working with [co-star] Tony Martin - just sitting opposite him every day, which is pretty much what we did because the film is essentially a dialog between two men.

I was on top of Keanu Reeves, he was on his back and I was on my trunk, and I was breathing down his neck for hours and hours. It was... very erotic. (on filming The Matrix Reloaded (2003))

One of the first things that made me want to be an actor was listening to Prokofiev`s `Romeo and Juliet`. I was intensely moved by it. I think I was about nine - I went to see the ballet. That`s what made me interested in Shakespeare.

We`re all outsiders in a way. We`re all alone and can become very lonely.

I don`t think I`ll ever escape the fact that I don`t belong anywhere in particular. I`ve often dreamed about going back to Nigeria, but that`s a very romantic notion. It`s a hideous country to go to in reality.

I do love working in Australia. Generally, the budgets are smaller, the crews are smaller and generally you work at a fast pace. That gives you energy. At the end of the day, you`ve worked a lot but you don`t feel tired. On the big ones, you sit around a lot. That really saps your energy.