I've got four piercings in my left, so we've dubbed my right one the 'period drama ear.' I have to be filmed from that side when I do emotional close-ups in 'Downton.'
I've been told I make a very good brew.
We filmed 'Labyrinth' in South Africa for two and a half months and it was just the most unbelievable experience. Lots of sword fighting, mud in hair and lots of weeping! It's very different from 'Downton' because I was going to work and having mud put in my hair - it's the other extreme of the look!
I'm hungry for a cold and mean character. I'd love it if someone thought I could play gritty. I want to play a baddie - someone really scary.
I don't know if I'm so righteous.
Sometimes when a scene is written or directed to be shouted or played incredibly angrily, I always think it's way more terrifying when someone is fuming and talks in a very calm way. I always want people to shout at me if they're angry - it freaks me out that whole thing of, 'I'm not angry I'm just disappointed.'
Everything you listen to when you are 17 should be embarrassing, otherwise you are way too cool.
I just really think every job I do, I get this gypsy attitude to money.
I don't mind giving everyone a shock - including myself.
Unfortunately I had an ankle problem and underwent three operations.
You don't automatically assume everyone will fall for a period drama.
I trained as a ballet dancer - well, I started when I was two and a half, and was serious about it from when I was eight until I was 18.
There's a reason hobble skirts are called hobble skirts. You literally can't move very far in them.
The thing I adore about acting is that it's not me: you get to experience all these emotions, but essentially it's not you.
I trained as a ballet dancer and fell in love with Rudolf Nureyev; I thought him the most beautiful creature. My mum had to break it to me that not only was he gay, but he was dead.
I shout at the radio when someone starts talking over the end of a song. Shut up! I don't want to hear that the DJ has just found a mouldy sandwich in the corner of the studio. Nor do I like it when the magic of something you're watching is shattered by an advert for Argos.
I have endless playlists on my iPod so will throw on, say, Bruce Springsteen or The Smiths, depending on what kind of day I'm going to have.
I filmed 'Albatross' before I got 'Downton.' It's a coming-of-age movie about this girl who leaps into this family's life, like a whirlwind. She's ballsy and brash and wonderful, it was such an amazing character to play.
I love when people become obsessed with 'Downton.'
I am a hopeless romantic.
