AISLING BEA

You can use your womb if you want - it's the most beautiful thing to do if you want - but it's not our only reason to be put on this earth.

I love my cobbler, and he fixes my soles and soul for me.

I've always hated exercise, but because I've had problems with my back, I now do Pilates, and I walk a lot.

I am too fat and tall to be a jockey. This is not self-deprecation - I realise that I am neither too fat nor too tall - but I am too fat and too tall to be a jockey.

Apparently, my father was funny. I didn't really know him, but people have theories that the gag-smith gene trickles down through the blood amongst other terrible traits like a big nose and a temper.

When you go to a restaurant, sometimes you want to go to Heston Blumenthal's where you hear the sound of the sea while you're eating one tiny thing for a hundred quid. And then sometimes you just want toast. You just. Want. To eat. Toast. Sometimes you have to be okay with the fact that in terms of comedy, I'm just like, maybe, 'chips and a side.'

People who succeed in my job are people who are not afraid to look silly.

Unfortunately, 'How You Remind Me' is the song most perfectly suited to my voice.

Repealing the Eighth Amendment is about women who don't want to be pregnant. It's not about a certain type of woman, a certain age of woman - we all known sisters and mothers who have chosen to go on with a pregnancy and those who haven't.

For ethical fashion, I really like Reformation. It's so fashionable - no hemp trousers.

I buy so much stuff from charity shops.

Northern Irish people tend to have this sharp, dark sense of humour.

Put everything into it if you're asking people to part with money for it. That's the way I feel about it.

In karaoke, you don't choose the song; the song chooses you.

Success is never going to come in the way your teenage self sees it.

I trained in London as a classical actor, but you've no idea what way your career will go.

My on-set, keep-warm jacket is a Patagonia, and they make sure the people who make their clothes are paid fairly, along with a load of other great stuff and initiatives. They're a business, but they put their money where their mouth is in terms of caring and responsibility.

Don't be afraid to look silly. You are only holding yourself back if you are afraid of looking silly or failing.

Those two years at drama school were nutty and weird. I didn't love it at all - I loved my class; I have so many great friends from that time - but I learned less. I just learned more of what I didn't like.

Songs with simple lyrics really take off in Irish nightclubs.

Brexit is not ideal. I'm famously not a Brexit negotiator, but relations between Ireland and the U.K. have been getting stronger, and a big part of that has been trade and feeling like sister countries within the E.U. I don't think it will affect the 'vibe' of relations, but it will have a significant effect on trade and business.

In this modern world, where we have filters to make us look as nice as possible, it's good to take off the filter and go, 'I could look stupid here.' You'll learn something and be better for it.

Everyone has material about cats, and everyone has material about family and what they think about their government or childhood.

There was a stage in my career, especially with standup, where I felt, because I didn't know why I was doing well, that anyone who would tell me anything; I was sort of like, 'What did they say? Yeah, I'll take that advice.' Now I'm a bit more careful who I choose to listen to.

I wear a lot of blacks and greys, then put in splashes of colours, but I like wearing strong shades like reds and neons, too.