LINUS ROACHE

I love working in films.

Trying to act cold is a challenge when your makeup's running and sweat is pouring down your neck.

I realised success as an actor alone wouldn't make me happy. I needed to explore my spiritual side in more depth.

If you count my childhood appearances in a few TV shows and being the son of two well-known actor parents in the U.K., plus three years of drama school, you could say that I've been pretty much surrounded by the business of acting and performing my entire life.

You might get one job for having a famous parent, but you won't get your second unless you're good.

It seems to me that whatever path you choose to take, in the end its up to each of us to try, test and live what we find out, to apply it and see what actually works, and that's the exciting and challenging part of this very real adventure.

In the end, it's your job to own the role, and in the end, you are playing certain aspects of your own self, even.

I'd be willing to do anything. I'm not precious. I'd wash dishes.

In modern times, if you're on an airplane and it's going down, that's it. You've got a couple of minutes, if that, to work out where you stand in relationship to the whole of your life.

I've been to India a lot, ever since when my mum was in 'Jewel In The Crown.'

Most of the TV shows I've done have all been in the U.S.

Dad has always been - and still is - a great influence on me. He has always stood up for spirit, staying true to his beliefs... and I like to do the same with regard to my own true beliefs, regardless of potential criticism or mockery.

I briefly flirted with some of the new age offerings available in the early '90s and found strength in Buddhism, but ultimately I was looking for something that was not tied to tradition.

I just love variety. I love being able to do different things. Do period pieces and sci-fi. I love being able to move between genres and be flexible.

There's so much cynicism around in Britain, especially in the press. The American press might be naive, but at least you feel as if they're on your side.

The Vikings themselves are fascinating creatures. They're human beings, of course, but their ethos are so different from ours. The fact that they live as warriors - their willingness to die for the sake of what they believe in - is quite shocking to us, and it's fascinating to see.

When you've got good writing, you can kind of give up all the research, in a way, and start just following the emotional integrity of the journey of your character.

Both my parents are actors, in very different ways.

I shot a pilot for ABC, which I'm a bit confused about what the actual title is - I heard it was called 'Chosen.' It's directed by Roland Emmerich - the master of disaster himself - and it's his idea and concept for the show that's a supernatural thriller about good and evil set in contemporary modern day New York.

When I went to drama school, I thought that everybody would think I was only there because my dad was on TV.

A spiritual life is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How do you live? What's true? How do you respond? It's not about living by beliefs; it's about wanting to know.

Part of me wanted to disappear into a cave in India, and I did end up going on retreats there, but, don't ask me why, I always felt very strongly that the point for me was to find a way to live a truly spiritual life in the modern day world and be able to work with all the positive aspects of our cultural and technological advancements.

New York, without a doubt, is my favorite city in the world.

As an actor, when you're actually trying to embody what it would be like to just know that everyone's at your beck and call, it's quite a thing to absorb what that might be like and what that would do.

Every time you get a script and you have a scene, you start mining out how many layers there are within it.