KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

I cook. I go to farmers markets in London and cook really good sort of organic foods.

I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.

I don't think that you can fake warmth. You can fake lust, jealousy, anger; those are all quite easy. But actual, genuine warmth? I don't think you can fake it.

It's fantastic to have the opportunity to work abroad, and do all that, but there is a certain point where you're just like, 'Oh, I'd love to work at home.'

You already feel unsure of yourself, and then you see your worst fears in print. It really knocked me - which is why, I think, I was working, working, working, because I was trying to run away from the fact that I thought I couldn't do it.

But acting is very much a profession that is you're hot one moment and not the next - and that is totally cool. I think that's what I find most fascinating and most exciting about it - is that it can be gone in a puff of smoke.

It's good to know that other people think differently, and that's what makes the characters interesting.

I tried college for three months but I was desperately unhappy. I just wanted to perform. I was getting straight As but I had no friends and cried every day.

Nice is the worst word.

I think everybody has the right to a private life.

My upbringing is why I am the person I am today. I have very wise parents.

I find more interesting roles for women in period pieces. I do personally like watching period films; I think you can really get lost in the fantasy of them.

My mum says that I was born 45, and I do remember at six thinking that I should be earning my own living.

I wasn't allowed to do commercials. I wasn't allowed to do TV series. I wasn't allowed to do soaps or basically anything that would mean I missed too much school.

It's an interesting thing when you discover something about yourself. To go: 'Wow, I'm not the person I thought I was. I'm in the middle of something and I can't actually deal with it.'

I'm doing a film now with a lot of guys as well, so at the end of that I will be growing a beard.

I always find it much easier when there's one person whose vision you're following, as opposed to many people.

I really believe that in this industry women have to be very true to themselves about what they're comfortable with.

When I was about 5 I think, I desperately wanted to be a pirate and have the hat and everything.

I see the world through my eyes. It's sometimes a strange world.

Film is a much lonelier process than theatre. You really don't have any rehearsal time in film. You don't shape it together... with theatre, there is a complete kind of family atmosphere. The sociable side of this business is the theatrical side, it really isn't the film side.

What's nice about playing somebody real is that generally there's more information about them, so a lot of the questions that you'd otherwise have to make up the answers to are already there.

I don't have a problem with my body. I'm not just going to strip off all my clothing, but if the part calls for it and I don't think there's any way round, I'm absolutely fine.

I didn't know this about myself, but when 'Pirates of the Caribbean' came out I realised that I didn't enjoy a huge amount of recognition. I didn't react to it well, but I think life is about finding out who you are and what you like. So I started doing independent movies and art-house films instead.

Well, the thing about great fictional characters from literature, and the reason that they're constantly turned into characters in movies, is that they completely speak to what makes people human.