Lines are very difficult to learn.

I have actual acting scars.

I’ve seen and swam and climbed and lived and driven and filmed. Should it all end tomorrow, I can definitely say there would be no regrets. I am very lucky, and I know it. I...

Looking for happiness is a sure way to sadness, I think. You have to take each moment as it comes.

I drive a motorbike, so there is the whiff of the grim reaper round every corner, especially in London.

I am very flattered. I have also become a verb as in “I have cumberbatched the UK audience” apparently. Who knows, by the end of the year I might become a swear word too! It’s...

Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.

The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.

My mum and dad had worked incredibly hard to afford me an education.

We all want to escape our circumstances, don’t we? Especially if you are an actor.

I’m a Prince of Wales Trust ambassador, so I’m all about giving youth an education, a voice and a chance to not take the wrong road.

I’ve been very lucky at what’s happened in my career to date, but playing something as far from me as possible is an ambition of mine – anything from a mutated baddy in a comic...

One of the fears of having too much work is not having time to observe. And once you get recognised, there is nowhere for you to look any more. You can’t sit on a night...

[on Martin Freeman playing Bilbo Baggins] It was great. I got to hang out with him, and I kept a straight face for a bit and then I started giggling because I know Martin, I...

I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book.

The first time we did cavalry charge I was so breathless with excitement I nearly fell off the horse. I actually saw stars in front of my eyes and thought I was going to faint....

I’ve realised now that the reality of children is you have to be in the right place with the right person.

Maybe it’s because I was an only child, but I’ve always wanted kids.

I’ve been quite a late developer on the clothes front, but I’ve suddenly realised it is one of life’s joys.

I want to do it all. I want to climb mountains, go through jungles, fight wars in space, get the girl, shoot the bad-guy full of lead, have all the zippy one liners, bulge muscles...

I had the privilege of being able to choose, or at least have the opportunity to work at, being anything but an actor.

I’ve always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.