ZAWE ASHTON

In the future, the idea would be to create work for myself, as a way to work up into my 80s if nothing else. But also, I want to cast my friends in things or people I saw who weren't working and I'd be like, 'Why aren't you working, I don't understand - I'll write you a role in something.'

I love the visual medium of film and TV. I love the science of it, working with the sound and the lighting and every aspect.

I got into a habit really early about not talking about work, ever.

For me, food is all about nostalgia.

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

The first stage play I ever did was a school play called 'The Wishing Chair.'

Todd Solondz is a film maker I've always loved because of how he balances darkness, humour and surrealism in his films.

I used 'Saved by the Bell: The College Years' as my reference point really for my 'Fresh Meat' experience.

What sometimes annoys me about the arts is increasingly that we have to put real people on screen or stage.

One of the first plays I ever did was at the Royal Court Theatre in London; it was the first play I got after drama school.

I had a meeting a while back with a big group of women - actors and producers and writers - who are all ethnic minorities and we just aired what we thought was happening and why, and someone said that, as a black or mixed race actress, you feel like you're renting space instead of carving out a career. But I'm just going to get on with it.

If I'm wearing the wrong clothes I can't think. It sounds so weird but it just has to be the right fabrics and like the right feeling on my body.

If there's one person I looked up to obsessively, it was Will Smith. There wasn't anyone who looked like me on TV in England. 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' was my touchstone.

I hate using the word 'dark' for things that are negative.

I would like to have a baby.

A lobster roll and a few glasses of fizz and I'm happy.

Tennessee Williams moves my soul.

From the outside, some people might consider me a hipster!

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.

If people call my book an actor's memoir I will be very upset. I can't bear anything too literal, so it has elements of truth and elements of fiction sitting side by side.

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 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.

Dreams of a Life' and 'Fresh Meat' have left me on such a high. I'm not complaining but I'm not complacent either.

The widespread shame of motherhood is criminal, and it needs to stop. The world can never improve if you disrespect the people that bring life.

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