I was lucky enough to make four Bond films. It finished in rather shambolic fashion, but I have no bitterness, no resentment.
I just used to go to the same auditions with all these other kids I went to school with. I didn't feel like I was really good at acting. I didn't feel like I was a really talented person that needed to be doing this.
To me, it's a little odd to ever think 'model into actor.' I modeled once. I was about as far from a decent model as you can possibly be. I did not enjoy the world at all. I fell in my stilettos quite a bit.
One of my dad's friends from the music industry came over to our house one time and heard me sing, and he said, 'She should audition for this role I have!' So I did! It was a movie called 'The Gospel,' which I did when I was five. That was when I was like, 'I want to do this acting thing!'
When I was young, I wanted to be a movie star. But I realized that you have no control being an actor. So I went to architecture school in NYC, because I was crazy about buildings. Then I began to realize that I got more excited about Vogue coming out each month than I was about my projects.
I definitely still have my hand in acting. I don't think I would be able to walk away from it. It's my passion.
An actor is an impersonator; he plays many different roles. If you played the same role all the time, God that'd be a boring career.
What do I love about acting? I love traveling, meeting new people, exploring and just doing what I love.
People who I've worked with are always like, 'Why aren't you doing comedy? You're funny!' because they've only seen the one side. I did do the comedy 'Whatever Works,' with Woody Allen and Larry David.
Sometimes being an actor is being a song in someone else's mixtape, so I really understand why more and more actors are making films of their own.
Every kid wants to be an actor. When I was a kid, I thought, 'Oh, it'd be great to be like Errol Flynn. I want to be an actor.'
After Princess Diaries, I was labeled a good girl, and for the first eight years of my career I had to fight to get any other kind of role. But I like fighting for a job, actually. Once you get it, you feel like you've emerged victorious from the scrap and you're like, "OK, this one's mine. Did it. Done."
My first in, my first break, was I met a director and got to talking with her, and she happened to be casting this movie that she had written. That was ten years ago. That got me to Hollywood. I got paid $700 bucks.
When I first got into acting, I never had any long-term goals, never had any plan. I just thought it would be a good way to make some extra money.
You can't be an actor in a small town-you have to go to New York or L.A.
Directing a film requires a different set of skills. It is a difficult job, and I am happy being an actor.
In Delhi, I became a serious stage actor. Then, luckily, the FTII acting course began, and I studied there, spent some time working on my craft. In 2008, I moved to Mumbai, and then in one and a half years of so-called struggle, I got my first film, 'Love Sex aur Dhokha' (LSD).
I would love to do more movies, but the reality is women have many more opportunities on television to play a greater variety of characters.
I never planned to become an actor.
I have to say as an actor I have been inspired by so many British actors throughout the years.
When I first started acting, I was just crap.
I've known since I was about six that I wanted to be an actor, but I grew up in a very small country town, and it was just not something that was possible.
I was in California, and I was going to UCLA, and I knew I certainly didn't have movie star looks. I remember seeing pictures and photos of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, who were kind of average looking. I said, 'Well, that's for me, then, to go back to New York and try to be in musical comedy on Broadway.'
Coming from New Zealand and Australia is like a tough pre-school for Hollywood. And having been on 'Neighbours,' even though the agents I met with hadn't seen it, they knew it's where Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce had come from. It was a foot in the door.
I've had a fantastic career playing great parts. In many ways, the colour of my skin has been an asset because I've been asked to play certain roles as a result. I don't apologise for playing them anymore than Robert de Niro is sorry for playing American-Italians.
