I like to jump into different worlds. I'm attracted to the emotional rollercoaster of acting. Now I've been doing it for so many years, I must rather enjoy it.

My boy cousins used to sit my older brother and me down and take us through a film-studies course. It included 'Tremors', 'The Goonies', and, of course, 'Star Wars'. That was when it began: sitting cross-legged watching as the opening crawl goes up the screen.

You have to have a bag of Yorkshire Tea bags. It is the best tea that England has to offer, and that comes with me everywhere I go.

In a way, 'Like Crazy' keys into our generation, this idea of now we can still be in communication. Where do the boundaries of relationships end?

I always take off my makeup. My mother always told me to do this, and I never go to bed without doing it. I use a good moisturizer and Mario Badescu face wash.

A lot of my time is spent watching films and reading scripts. And it can be all-consuming. And it's obviously something I'm fortunate that is both my work and my hobby. It's what I would naturally be doing anyway.

My mother was in the kind of late-'60s, early-'70s origins of female emancipation. And she was very much like, 'You're not going to be defined by how you look. It's going to be about who you are and what you do.'

You have to be brave and not always play likeable people. It's difficult, because there's a demand for the hero or heroine to be very likeable.

In everyday life, I like APC, Isabel Marant, but I also like Zara. It depends how I'm feeling on the day. I like clothes that have a certain strength to them - simple but graphic.

Actors and directors work on things together. That's how I like to work, anyway. I don't want to be told what to do. I want to share it with someone and work it out together.

When you're a young actor, there's this pressure to rush. But I hope to be doing this into my sixties and seventies, so I'd prefer to take my time.

The key is working with great directors. A film is so many different people and all their talents, but particularly the directors, because of the idiosyncrasies of that person.

I think you're attracted to things that are different from yourself in a character because it's more interesting, and you get to play out a fantasy version of yourself.

There's so much of a desire in the entertainment industry for newness, a desire to build somebody up and then treat them as old news within six months. I think you'd be naive if you didn't try to hold on to your own way of doing things.

Of everything I have done, 'The Archers' always gets the most excitement; there's a sort of uncontrollable joy from fans of the program.

Acting has always existed alongside my normal life. It's been a case of learning on the job. I've worked in so many styles, with so many people, so I've picked bits up from everyone and everything.

I'm interested in all forms of performance, yet I think it's difficult to be as equally talented in all of them as they call for such different skills. At the moment, I still feel I'm learning and want as much experience and variety as possible.

I guess I'm a bit of a romantic.

It can be very intense being an actor; it can be quite a small world. Then you speak to your friend who is a scientist and they have a completely different perspective.

But for everyone, I think, there is always a pressure to conform, and I guess as you get older you realize it's less interesting to do that. It starts with you, though, saying, 'I know what I like doing and that's what I'm going to do.'

It's nice to have some continuity you can come back to. I feel that in coming home, coming back to London.

I think, as an actor, you're always traveling. There's a sense of dislocation sometimes from home.

The more you work, the more people can see that you're something different from what's come before.

I'm very excited that I can get on a skateboard and skateboard down the street now. That was something I never thought I'd be able to do. I conquered my fears.

I'm not really massively into going out. I'm much more of a hibernator. It's nice to have people come to your house or go to someone's house, I think.

I'm attracted to playing people who aren't necessarily straightforward.

I always wear the shoes of the character a week before going on set; the idea of just putting on a new pair of shoes on the first day of filming is just horrific.

I'm very independent, creatively, always trying to push myself - and I think that comes from my mother.

Day to day, I always wear eyeliner on my top lid and mascara. I like to do my own makeup, it depends on the event.

If it's something quite low-key then I'll often do my own makeup. But for something like a premiere, it's good to have a makeup artist because they know what they're doing.

I don't like when I look too cluttered.

I'm not a huge jewelry fan.

You just have to take these opportunities when they come along. They're not that frequent; you'll get a really good script, oh, maybe once a year if you're lucky.

I'm a masochist in some ways. I look for things that I think I can't do, then, for some bizarre reason, I really want to do them. Maybe one day I'll take the easy route.

As a child, I always liked dressing up and getting into character, and actors are lucky in being able to retain that playfulness, though we do seem to find it hard to grow up.

It was only after university that I said to myself that I had to take the risk and have a serious go at acting. It's such a bizarre profession, because you have to be totally tough to deal with all those times when you're being turned down, and then really soft in order to access your character's emotions.

I've never done a superhero movie. It's very nice to you as an actor in several worlds to go and to experiment.

I don't have much time for shopping so I pick things up when I can. My favorite labels are APC, Isabel Marant and Agnes B because the clothes are cut small and have a simplicity to them.

I have a great plain blue shirt from APC, and a denim one from Dolce that I wear constantly. It's hard to find the perfect denim shirt, but this is it.

My most treasured item is the brown leather bag that my mum bought me from a little Italian shop for my 21st. It's supposed to be a vanity bag, but I use it as a handbag.

I would describe my look as 'ladylike rock chick.'

I use SPF every day, then apply foundation, mascara, eyeliner and blusher. I always take my make-up off at night and moisturize.

There's such a sense of theatre in getting glammed up; it's like putting on a play or short film.

My mother worked in advertising and my father was a journalist. But they split up when I was three and I grew up in a single-parent family. My mum brought my brother and I up.

I think that when something happens when you're growing up, like a death or divorce, it does open the world slightly because things aren't as straightforward.

Fashion choices are never arbitrary. Even if you say you don't care, that's a decision. There's something you're trying to say.

I'm more of a freestyle dancer. I like to do my own thing.

I'm used to doing independent film where the style is a lot more casual. With improvising, you obviously find so much out on the day - and in a way, I feel more comfortable doing that.

With every film that you do, you're always so nervous. You feel exposed because you know people will see this eventually. You sort of have to put all that out of your head. What will be will be. But it's nerve wracking.

I think human nature is eternal and constant.

Once you're playing someone, you shouldn't be judging them in any way. That's what being an actor is - it's having empathy for people that are different from yourself. Once you've committed to that person, your responsibility is to tell that story.

I am quite fortunate, because I can still be quite incognito. If you go out looking for attention, then you'll attract it, but if you're just getting on with your life, particularly in London where everyone is engrossed in what they're doing, you can keep a measure of anonymity.

I was a very rotund child with short hair, and for some reason, I always had black ballet shoes. I was like the Wednesday Addams of ballet.

It is disheartening when you read an interview with an actress, and it starts by describing what she is wearing.

I think there is an enormous appetite for great roles for women. You can see that clearly with things like 'The Hunger Games.'

I always think Michelle Williams is excellent in her work. And I do love Sofia Coppola. She always creates something so atmospheric. I love Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Andrea Arnold.

I don't think my parents would have let me go straight into acting full time when I was 12. I do like to have balance, naturally, as an individual.

For everyone, 'Star Wars' has been a part of their lives in some capacity. I remember watching it very early on with my cousins and my brother, and we were all cuddled around the VHS player, which sounds very old-fashioned, but that was the way then.

There's so much that goes into a film that I feel like it's a bit arrogant to say, 'Oh, I never watch my own movies.' Well, it's not just you. There's a whole host of other people. So much skill goes into it. But I would say it does take a couple times seeing it to get a level of perspective.

Any creative process comes with a level of self-analysis and self-criticism. There's a lot of waking up in the middle of the night going, 'Oh, I wish I had done that differently.'