On my radar: Rhys Ifans's cultural highlights

Born in Pembrokeshire, Rhys Ifans made his earliest screen appearances as a presenter on Welsh-language television. After a brief stint as a founding member of psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals, Ifans launched an acting career. He was Bafta-nominated for his breakthrough role as Hugh Grant's flatmate, Spike, in the 1999 film Notting Hill, before winning the award for his portrayal of Peter Cook in Not Only But Always. He also starred in the film adaptation of Howard Marks's autobiography, Mr Nice, and counts the villainous Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man among his notable big-screen roles. Ifans has made several stage appearances, including roles in Under Milk Wood and Volpone at the National Theatre, where he is currently starring in Protest Song, Tim Price's play inspired by the Occupy movement, until 11 January.

Exhibition: Jake and Dinos Chapman at the Serpentine Gallery

I love art that makes you laugh and so this is something that I really want to go and see. Jake and Dinos and I started making three films together but none of them were finished. They've put these films together and it's part of the exhibition. I just remember the first day of filming: I walked into the room and they'd built a 10ft vagina in disturbing detail. I love their abandon and their sense of humour, but actually there's something very moving about what they do, too. I first met them at fashion week in Milan, where Missoni (who do horrible knitwear) wanted to invite young British renegades, which we were at the time, to come and model. Obviously, me, Jake and Dinos took full advantage of the whole thing: drank the rider, ate the food, tried to get off with the models (which didn't work) and then stole a load of clothes. We've been friends since then.

Restaurant: Barrafina

I lived in Spain for a while; this is as good as anything I ever had there. It's a little expensive, but then everything is in Soho. The food is simple, tasty, bang on. They have attentive staff who are really excited about the specials – and the specials there are actually specials, not stuff they haven't sold the day before. I discovered it when I was doing a play at the Donmar Warehouse about five years ago called Don Juan in Soho. Between shows I would amble around, and I kept seeing this place. When I'm away, that's the one London meal (other than Indian food) that I crave.

Book: Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander

I'm reading this novel at the moment, but I've read other works by this author too. It's about a guy living in upstate New York who discovers a very, very old Anne Frank in his attic. It's hilariously funny and then, within a paragraph, it breaks your heart. I just love that journey. Auslander grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family and was liberated from the orthodoxy of that, but still retained a kind of glorious Jewish stoicism. His work has a certain quality: it's so black and dark, just joyously offensive. I'm a sporadic reader. I have moments when I can't stop… then I kind of forget that I can read. But then I go, "Oh God, yeah, books!"

Album: The Bunkhouse Vol I: Anchor Black Tattoo by Fionn Regan

Regan's an Irish folk singer and he's extraordinary. I've seen him live many times and I've got some of his lyrics tattooed on my arm, but that's a whole other article. He's a song-smith and a wordsmith of the highest order. This latest album is utterly beautiful, even though I don't usually listen to folk music. Recently, I've also been listening to a band called TOY, who I like. They're kind of psychedelic-y, rock-y… nice. I don't have a favourite track really; that's how psychedelic they are. I'm a real magpie when it comes to music; it's all random and there's no pattern to what I like.

Photography: Edward Curtis

I just read Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan. I spent a lot of time in America this year and I like to read about the place where I'm staying. Edward Curtis was a photographer in the late 19th century who tried to document the rapidly disappearing Native Americans. He assembled a canon of work which, today, is exemplary and invaluable. He was a sickly child who bought a camera and dedicated his life to recording disappearing cultures. The photographs are extraordinary. I got about 30 pages into the book, then I bought prints of all his photographs.

Film: Come and See (1985)

For me, Come and See is, by a million miles, the best film about war that has ever been made. I would highly recommend, encourage and enforce anyone to watch it. It stands out because it's a film about retreat, not attack, and the devastation that a retreating infantry causes – in this case, the Germans, from Russia. I hate war films – they're full of shouty actors with guns pretending to look after each other – but this film is truly beautiful. The main character in it goes deaf for a while, and so do the audience. The first time I saw it, it got in my bones and it's stayed with me. Because it's in Technicolor, it has a real pornographic vividity to it.