ROSE MCIVER

I bring ideas to set, and I'm more than willing for those to be affected and be malleable based on what the other person gives me. I don't know what another actor is going to give me, on the day, and I don't want to be so hard and fast in my technique that I'm not open to what's coming.

When I look at jobs, one of the most relevant questions I ask is, 'Is this something I've done before, or is it a chance to experience a new context, tone and relationship?' I also ask if it's a story worth telling and a character with a reason to exist... someone who reflects the human condition.

I love having the laid-back, easy-going, family-priority nature of New Zealand, but I'm certainly enjoying the States in terms of the career opportunities and the enthusiasm I get to find work.

Allison Janney, I'm such a big fan of. Especially the way she conducts herself on a personal level, it's so beautiful. She's this fun, gracious person.

Tinker Bell is a great wing woman. And as somebody pointed out to me, she is also a winged woman.

I really like questions. I like people who write scripts because they're asking questions, not because they're giving answers. It's something that I look for.

Say a piece of pottery is broken, and it's fixed, and they use gold in the adhesive and in the sealant. It becomes more precious than it was before it was broken in the first place.

What I love about my work is the variety and not knowing what's coming next, and being able to embrace something for a period of time and know something new is going to follow.

When I was about five, I could do a vaguely decent American accent - straight through kind of decent - and 'Hercules' needed some kids. I definitely wasn't a good actor.

Since I was growing up in New Zealand where there's a hole in the ozone layer above us, we get so much sun damage to our skin, and the thing we can do to look after ourselves is use sunscreen during the day, but making sure your skin is well hydrated while you sleep.

My most vivid memory - it's actually one of my first memories - I was three, and I was the youngest angel in the show production. And I remember being absolutely desperate for the toilet. I needed to wee really badly. So I was crossing my legs when I was walking down.

I think if I manage to juggle a personal life that I'm really happy with as well, as long as I manage to maintain balance, that's kind of the mark of success to me.

There are many projects that I would have loved to be a part of, but I was not high-profile enough, or I had the wrong look. That's just something you have to expect.

When you overcome a profound loss, or there's some catalyst in your life that shifts everything, if you're able to take it in stride and heal, it can make for much more three-dimensional and empathetic people.

There is humor in the darkest of moments - People who I have loved and passed away, and very high stake situations where you can't help but laugh. I think that's very human.

I don't ever want to feel like my whole life is laid out before me and I know exactly what's gonna happen. That would be so boring.

Tinker Bell needs a Tinker Bell. She needs someone plotting for her. I certainly think that it's something she wants.

Really, I'm never much of a goal-setter. Whenever I've tried to make big, solid plans, they don't happen. I'm more into whatever the circumstances are that present themselves, making wise decisions around that.

Writing is definitely something that interests me a lot.

I've done a lot of drama, and as a lifestyle, going to work and laughing every day is just great. It's great for your mental health, and it's great for setting up a nice year.

Being given a terrible piece of information shouldn't ruin the interactions you have with the people around you or mean that you can't become something, even if it's not the idea of what you thought you were going to be.

The best way to study to be an actor is to interact genuinely with the people around you and observe and listen.

My school of thought with going into a character is that you have to understand where they come from, and you have to empathize with them.

The reason I feel like I act is because you get to live a million different lives in one. I don't have to go about my life, just being easy-going New Zealander Rose. Sometimes I can inhabit a feisty, vicious character. Sometimes I can inhabit a painfully shy British girl, or whatever it might be.

My motivation is to get a deeper understanding and exploration of something that I want to know about the human condition. So, that's what I look for in the material I read: if it's asking a genuine question about a concept of the world that interests me. And also, it helps if it's a context that I find interesting.