ELIZABETH DEBICKI

Every time I see a good play or watch a good movie, I have the same feeling I had as a child of wanting to be that person on stage or wanting to run through the forest with a big dress on.

Kissing in films, it's just another thing you have to do. It kind of becomes as technical as how to open a door, really.

I was a dancer from a young age. My parents were dancers; we were taken to a lot of ballet as children. It occurred to me that what I liked more than dancing the steps was acting the story of whatever particular performance I was taking part in.

I don't have a story about an epiphany in which I suddenly realised I wanted to be an actor. It was much more a case of the idea dawning on me gradually.

I was very new to working in front of the camera when I started shooting 'Gatsby', so I set myself the mission of gleaning as much information as possible out of the much more experienced actors. The cast was astoundingly talented.

I guess the bigger you dream, the further you have to fall if you don't get it, so it can be a bit of a scary thing to be that ambitious.

People ask me what it's like to be tall, and I don't know what to say because I don't know any different. I grew up in a very tall house, so I wasn't an anomaly there.

Majorca is this destination where, you know, you have a lot of money, but you want to go somewhere quite exclusive. And the culture of the island is still traditionally Spanish. It hasn't been infested by tourists. I think, in the '20s or something, an extremely wealthy person built this little kingdom of villas.

Red carpets are awful. They're like a kind of purgatory - you stand there, and there are cameras flashing everywhere. One of my first red carpets was in Cannes for 'The Great Gatsby,' and I'd never seen anything like it.

I didn't really know what to expect. I had been told about the scale of Cannes, but nothing could have prepared me for just how many people would turn out for our photo calls or for the opening ceremony.

Television is the medium that's allowing women's stories to flourish.

It's tricky territory, height and co-stars. The only thing I can say is that it's never been an issue in my life.

Sometimes I have a nervous breakdown over my suitcase - over socks - because your brain just goes, 'I just can't pack again. I can't.' You're looking at your suitcase going, 'I'm in five countries in two weeks, and it's four different seasons.' That's when my brain melts.

I loved Catherine Deneuve, Sophia Loren, and Ursula Andress. They had an incredible strength but fragility at the same time, especially Catherine Deneuve, who had an aloofness that impressed me.

I am very tall, and when you're a teenager, you want to be like everyone else. I used to slump a lot; it's very human at that stage to want to be part of the crowd and not want any part of you that is sticking out.

I think I've developed a sort of ADD for geography now. When I've been in a country for too long, I'm like, 'I think it's time to leave.' I don't know what that's going to do to me in later life.

It even sounds stupid to hear myself say the first costume designer I worked with was Catherine Martin, and she won an Oscar for it, but that was just my very lucky draw of roll of the dice.

On a red carpet, you really want to feel your best, so to work with a designer who will shape a dress to your figure and take into consideration your opinions is really a blessing.

Often, female characters are quite one dimensional, especially in a two hour film; television gives characters room to breathe and develop.

Often, you're not quite sure what people have seen you in, but the script lands in your inbox. That was the case with 'The Night Manager.'

I'm not a great sleeper. I try and do too many things every day. I think that I get very obsessive about parts and projects. I do let them kind of consume me, and when there's something on the horizon that I want to be involved in, I just kind of hurtle myself towards it.

I definitely try my best not to stay in character when I'm not on set, which can be more difficult in some roles than others.

My parents were ballet dancers, and I did a lot of ballet, too, so I think I learned quite early on how to hold my body. Although I do recall desperately wishing I was shorter at school.

I don't think it's healthy to buy into hype in any form, whether it's positive or negative. You have to exist in yourself and just move on with life.

That world of spies and espionage, there's a coldness to it. That's what makes those worlds fascinating - and what makes le Carre's work so interesting.