CARICE VAN HOUTEN

I do this acting thing mostly for myself. I like to make a connection and communicate with the audience to make myself feel less lonely. I also do it to develop my own character, so sometimes I do it to just be away in a certain area that I've never been to. But mostly, the story has to do something for me.

When I started acting, there were parts in English that I thought I just had to try it out and go to another country. I did a film in Ireland. It was my first film abroad.

I don't believe you can get into somebody's character but more that somebody comes in you. You just use yourself. In everything I play, I feel like it is me. I just say different things on different times and look different.

I have a very musical family from my Scottish roots.

I have some wigs at home just for fun. Throughout my years, my hair has been treated in a not very nice way, so I have to be careful.

My father is a silent cinema freak, so he took me to 1925 silent films that took forever, like 5-hour movies, but I've seen a lot of that stuff since I was young. And then I saw the film 'Annie,' and I just wanted to be Annie; I just wanted to be that orphan kid and wanted to sing and dance.

I don't do method acting. If I play a farmer, I'm not gonna spend 3 weeks on a chicken farm. That's a bit too much for me.

American actresses have more problems than I do; I'm lucky to be able to play what I want for a smaller audience, because I have my own country to do that in.

Most directors that I've worked with - I've worked with before, especially in Holland - and they know that I'm somebody who talks and asks, and talks, and talks, and talks and questions and turns things around. I'm like a little cat, walking around my little nest until I find my place.

I have a love-hate relationship with Twitter. There are moments I feel like 99 percent of the people who write stuff are the sweetest people, and then one crazy guy or girl spoils the whole thing.

Don't get me wrong: I would not say no to an Oscar!

I'm a singer and working on my second album. I write and produce. There is so much more that satisfies me. So there's not just this one ambition to become an American movie star. Because I will never become an American movie star.

Playing evil is just not interesting. I don't think anyone who does evil stuff thinks they're doing evil stuff. That's the scary part.

For a while, I thought that I was only going to be cast in Second World War films.

I'm cold in summer. I'm the coldest person ever! It's very ironic I'm never cold in the scripts. Every time I'm shooting, if you don't see a part of me, there are hot water bottles there.

My grandparents met each other in amateur theatre. My uncle is an actor.

I'm completely the opposite of what I play on 'Game of Thrones.'

There doesn't seem to be a religion in 'Game of Thrones' that's totally peaceful... we haven't seen any Buddhists.

I personally don't like to rehearse so much. I really sort of trust my instinct.

I speak French, German, English, and Dutch, and I can say a few words in Spanish - none of these languages have anything to do with Valyrian.

In the streets, they're very nice. On Twitter, there are people who love to hate me. Sometimes people get mean. I tend to answer like, 'Careful now, know who you're dealing with...' They're like, 'I'm sorry! Don't send the Lord of Light after me!' It's fun to play with that.

It's quite absurd to act against a smoke creature that is not there.

I think it's cool people love to hate me.

I pick up on other people's discomfort.

I can't say I'm having trouble with my husband or that I have a stubborn child.