After everything I've been through - the foster care, the losing my parents and stuff like that, I was never one to kind of go, 'I'm gonna just not try.' I used it all as ammunition.
Dior makes me look good, and I make Dior look good.
One day, you're talking with Tom Hardy; the next day, you have Nicole Kidman kissing your feet. I never thought I'd be able to say that in my lifetime, Nicole Kidman kissing my feet. It's mad.
I grew up in Summerhill in Dublin's inner city, and I came across an open audition, and they were looking for inner city kids who had not acted. I signed up.
I've been lucky to be educated by watching the old and the great movies, working with good filmmakers, and being educated on sets.
I always believed that I could be one of the greatest actors of my generation.
People can get lost in the movie star world. They can't check in with reality, whereas I live at home with me girl, surrounded by real people.
Acting brings up a lot of the past. I use my memories, whether they're good or bad.
I started getting interested in the craft and watching old movies, and they're the ones that reach out to me the most - films like 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'On the Waterfront.' So I start watching all of these, and I was getting educated, and I started being interested in this acting thing, if that's what they call it.
That's why I don't live in L.A. First of all, I don't have the money. But second, I want to stay grounded, to be surrounded by real people, to have my head on my shoulders instead of losing track of reality.
I just think the more you're in front of camera, the better: my main aim is just to tell the truth, be natural, and believe in what I'm doing, and hopefully that comes across as a rawness.
Chris O'Dowd's a legend, isn't he? I like him.
This industry can take you in and spit you out. It's overwhelming. But I keep my feet on the ground, my Air Max on the gravel.
All I would say is it doesn't matter where you come from. Like, Jim Sheridan comes from the inner city, and he's one of the top ones, a top lad.
In any inner city, there's not a lot of opportunities, and you really have to dig out and chase what you want to do, 'cos it's not handed to you, so.
Foster care was a big part of my life.
Anyone dying is not easy, but certainly not a mother. Me and my brother, we stuck together. The foster families were good to me, and then my nanny took me in.
It's a hard thing to find in people: to sit and just be present with someone, even for two minutes.
Where I'm from, to do acting is not heard of. Being one of the lads and all, you don't just go, 'Oh, I want to be an actor'. They'd laugh and joke about it.
I want to produce. I want to direct. I want to be my own camera man. I want my own boxing club. I have it all written down. I want to do everything.
