When you're the youngest and the only boy, you get spoilt but you get told you're spoilt so you don't get to enjoy it very much. I was the only man in the house because my parents divorced and my dad moved away when I was 13.

I have friends who are leading men, and they're only ever allowed to play leading men of a certain type. But as a character actor, there's a wider variety of projects available. On the big Hollywood films, all they care about is having their lead in place, so it's actually easier for someone like me to slip in. And I'm happy to do so.

I consciously decided not to be a 'London' actor. Those gangster movies made a lot of East End actors think they were movie stars. And I was very aware that they were going to go out of fashion.

My business is not to show anybody anything; my job is just to do it.

When I was doing fringe theatre, my ambition was to do repertory. When I got to rep it was to do national theatre; then it was t,o get a couple of parts in television. I never had this great desire to overreach myself. I was too busy enjoying acting. I was just obsessed with it.

I'd love to play a Bond villain. Yeah, I'd love to play a Bond villain. Everyone always says this to me; they always say, 'You've got to be a Bond villain', 'We're going to make you a Bond villain...' But they've never, ever approached me, I've never had a whiff of it. I think I'd love to play a Bond villain; I'd have great fun.

Different races never fazed me because coming from Bethnal Green, I'd been around people of different races forever. Different class? That was much harder.

I thought 'Lock Stock' was a good film. I thought 'Lock Stock' was a good film because I think it was a one-off before it was imitated a hundred times.

I've never played a gay character on screen, so that would be interesting. I've never played a gay character, and that would fascinate me because I'm not gay, so that would interest me.

I'm like a mechanic. If you break down and phone the AA, they'll come to you whether it's raining or snowing. That's what an actor should do.

I don't look like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise. When you put me on the screen, the women don't want to make love to me, and the men don't want to be me.

I could not be one of those actors who stays in character all day long. I'd go mad.

I love Bethnal Green and where I'm from. Nothing there, especially the people, ever held me back, but I never felt that I was successful there.

Magic symbolises the subconscious - that part of us that is creative and powerful that we sometimes don't tap into.

I love the fact that everyone's trying to be good-looking in L.A. - then I turn up and I get work.

There's just something awesome about going all-out for 20 seconds and then stopping and getting to guzzle Pedialyte.

I still remember when I was 18 and my life was completely different. I was in my apartment, and I got the call that I got Stiles for this pilot. I was just jumping around with my roommates, freaking out. It's crazy to think about.

Having a connection and chemistry with a director is really key.

I haven't worked with a director who is a crazy person at all.

I can run pretty quick.

You have to latch onto somebody while you're working.

When I was 17, I was about 5'6''.

It's a generational thing. It'd be great if some kids grew up with me as that Jason Bourne figure.

I want to work with filmmakers who are really smart.