When you see a tumour in the brain, it’s an ugly looking thing. It’s kind of black, grisly and messy. Or it can be white. To see it taken away is just amazing.

I’d be a very easy therapist’s subject.

I’ve never felt that acting was my vocation – never had that tortured thing. I love acting, but it doesn’t feed my soul.

I didn’t much like Las Vegas. The noise of the place and the whole 24-hour, ‘let’s play the slot machines all night’ culture of the place just left me cold.

I spend my money on holidays and eating out, and it allows me to be generous.

As fabulous as technology is, it can also make us very anxious.

My wife would say I’m more Hyde than Jekyll!

If you are a Northern Irish actor, maybe subconsciously more than consciously, you do have an instinctive responsibility at some point to tackle the recent history of where we have come from. It’s not only...

Funnily enough, Northern Ireland is a great example of where politics can win over conflict. The decision to down arms and follow a political path would have been unthinkable once. It shows just what is...

I loved my time growing up in Northern Ireland doing youth drama, that is where it all began for me.

There will only ever be 13 dwarves in ‘The Hobbit’ – and I was one of them. If I had my time again, would I do it? Yeah, I would.

You don’t learn charm. It’s not something that you can acquire. I have used it much in my life with great success, but it’s not necessarily what makes me an actor. It became a very...

I’m not an actor who is often asked to be in period things.

Improvising political dialogue is not easy.

Several years ago, I began losing my hair, and like a lot of men, it was a major concern to me, in fact it was practically an obsession. But, also I’m an actor, so I’m...

I’m not strong-willed enough or unkind enough… or maybe simply not wise enough to tell a journalist that a subject is out of bounds.

As I told Piers Morgan, ‘Catholics have confession, whereas Northern Irish Protestants only have interviews.’

Northern Ireland has treated me well, you know?

My agent Sue realised after ‘Cold Feet’ that I could have spent the rest of my life doing similar roles. So she was instrumental in moving me away from that.

Like the character I played in ‘Jekyll’, we all have different masks we put on for different occasions. As much as we all want to lead decent lives, we’re also attracted by the idea that...

I spend an awful lot of time by myself and enjoy that.

Tumours can come out of nowhere.

In my life, I have made the occasional catastrophic choice, and it’s just a case of moving on and learning from it.

I’ve heard some duff Irish accents. The worst must be Mickey Rourke.

It’s a complicated relationship with the place one grows up in, particularly if it’s Northern Ireland.

When I was at drama school, I was totally broke, and a lot of my mates had jobs and were financially very good to me, so if, for example, I take them away on a...

No one wanted to own Bloody Sunday.

Because I grew up with women, I have a certain amount of charm, and I’m all right to get on with, kind enough, funny enough, blah blah blah.

People don’t watch TV only to relate to stuff. They also watch to find out about a world they can’t relate to.

My preference is for good writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s for film or TV. Whatever. It starts with the writing. Even though I’ve had problems with writers, it doesn’t matter how great of an...

The thing to remember is that the work comes first, and not to get distracted by anything else. If you keep focused on the work, everything else will fall into place. That’s my mantra now.

I started a French degree at university, but packed it in when I realised I really wanted to be an actor.

Unification is less important than the fact Ireland is now conflict-free.

I have three older sisters who, when we were children, used to hold me down on a bad day and put make-up all over me, so I’ve had an aversion to it all my life...

I never forget that I’m extremely fortunate.

It’s easier to act in your own accent.

A lot of people of my Ulster Protestant background would have been very suspicious of the notion of a film about Bloody Sunday. Our fear would have been that it would be terribly anti-Britain and...

Belfast is a city which, while not forgetting its past, is living comfortably with its present and looking forward to its future.

Drama asks some uncomfortable questions at times… It goes to pretty dark places.

People love watching medical dramas – they also love watching documentaries about the workings of the brain.

Perhaps not being very self-aware in the past masked depression. I think I was confused. I think I was immature. I think I probably was quite depressed.

As I flew back from New Zealand to bury my mother, it occurred to me that no matter how harrowing her loss was and how keenly it will always be felt, there was, nevertheless, a...

I think a lot of us who grew up in Northern Ireland weren’t politicised enough, frankly.

When I went to university, I was already working professionally with the Ulster Actors.

It’s ridiculous, but it’s horrible going bald. Anyone who says it isn’t is lying.

I thought I was God’s gift to mankind and the greatest Irishman since George Best.

It’s easy to get carried away with yourself.

Before I read the ‘Bloody Sunday’ script, I have to admit I hadn’t thought about it that much. There was probably even part of me which assumed there was no smoke without fire. That the...

I do commercials, but I also go to Sudan as an ambassador for UNICEF.

Ever since I left Northern Ireland, I’ve always been pretty comfortable on my own, which contradicts a lot of people’s perceptions of me.