GEORGE MACKAY

My dad's Australian.

My mum was a costume designer and costume supervisor in the theater and, especially, the ballet. But that was before I was born.

There's a loyalty attached to football, and it is more communal than theatre. If you go to the football, it is part of the structure of your life. For lots of people, theatre is a treat.

I got to do school properly and all the stuff that you should do when you're young and teenage: first friends, first girlfriends. It wasn't like I needed to be doing acting.

I wouldn't want to ever complain about having the opportunity to audition.

I had to try to understand how much of a taboo it was. My mum worked in ballet and theatre when she was younger, and I had been brought up around lots of gay people, so I had never had any issue and couldn't imagine how hard it was to be out.

I want as much as I can to try and explore different roles and different characters; that's important to me to get involved in as many different parts as I can.

The Orkney imagination is haunted by time.

If you've got a camera that's two feet away from you, you have to bring it all back down. It's a lot more insular. It's different brush strokes. Whereas on stage, you're playing to people who, depending on the size of the theater, might be 40 meters away from you.

Diversity is best in all contexts.

I audition for a lot and don't get a lot.

I seem to have a bit of a knack for accents; I can pick them up quick enough.

My dad used to work in the theater as a stage manager, production manager, and lighting designer.

There's a loyalty attached to football, and it is more communal than theatre. If you go to the football, it is part of the structure of your life. For lots of people, theatre is a treat.

If you've got a camera that's two feet away from you, you have to bring it all back down. It's a lot more insular. It's different brush strokes. Whereas on stage, you're playing to people who, depending on the size of the theater, might be 40 meters away from you.

The more I can be the character, the further I can get away from myself, the better.

When me and my sister were toddlers, it was 'The Jungle Book' literally every day. If it was lunchtime, it was 'Jungle Book' time.

My dad's Australian.

I think, when you're younger, you're slightly spoilt with the situation you get put in and to get to work with the people I got to work with without really thinking about it.

Diversity is best in all contexts.

Reading nice stuff about you is lovely, but I know it's going to be soul-destroying when you do something that everyone is tearing apart.

I had to try to understand how much of a taboo it was. My mum worked in ballet and theatre when she was younger, and I had been brought up around lots of gay people, so I had never had any issue and couldn't imagine how hard it was to be out.

You would not get out of bed in the morning if you were constantly worrying about the possibility of something happening to you on your way to work. But it is still something to pay attention to, I think.

Acting is all about creative ideas and sharing, so the more places those ideas come from, the better.

I want as much as I can to try and explore different roles and different characters; that's important to me to get involved in as many different parts as I can.

I guess I'm taking for granted how open my parents are.

I wouldn't want to ever complain about having the opportunity to audition.

My mum was a costume designer and costume supervisor in the theater and, especially, the ballet. But that was before I was born.

Glasgow's really friendly, with this impressive mix of real solidarity and identity that's very personal.

I got to do school properly and all the stuff that you should do when you're young and teenage: first friends, first girlfriends. It wasn't like I needed to be doing acting.

What I'd like to do is try as many different ways of working as possible. That's what I'm looking to do - collaborate with as many different directors.

The Orkney imagination is haunted by time.

We never find what we set out hearts on. We ought to be glad of that.

The imagination is not an escape, but a return to the richness of our true selves; a return to reality.

Hills tell old stories. Cliffs are poets with harps.