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James Dreyfus
James Dreyfus: 'My parents were extremely handsome. I look in the mirror and think: What went wrong?' Photograph: Getty Images
James Dreyfus: 'My parents were extremely handsome. I look in the mirror and think: What went wrong?' Photograph: Getty Images

What I see in the mirror: James Dreyfus

This article is more than 11 years old
'To be honest, I always wished I looked like Ethan Hawke'

When I was a teenager, my nose grew before everything else, so I have always been self-conscious about that. But now my face has filled out with age, my nose looks more in proportion. I used to hate my hair. It's mousy brown and when I was young it used to go very wavy. Now my hair is short and much more how I want it. But if I forget to get a haircut, it's soon 1980s-looking again.

My parents were extremely handsome. My mother modelled for Dior and my father's a good-looking guy. I look in the mirror and think: "What went wrong? I should be a lovely combination." Perhaps it was the forceps delivery that did it.

I have a goatee at the moment and usually sport some sort of facial hair. I used it like a mask when I was in my 20s. I would turn up on the first day of rehearsals with a full beard. Then, as I grew more confident, I would shave a bit off, and by the third or fourth week, when I'd got to know everyone, I was confident enough to be clean-shaven. I don't do that any more. I'm more confident now.

I'm 44 and I can't say I'm looking forward to being 60-plus, but I'm not worried about ageing. If I'd been a beautiful teenager, I guess I would mind. To be honest, I always wished I looked like Ethan Hawke.

If I had my time over again, I'd like to be absolutely beautiful and it wouldn't matter if I was vacuous as well. I wouldn't care. I would rather enjoy being beautiful until I was 29 and then worry about the rest later.

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