Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I'm not religious. I was as a child, and like lots of people, I suppose, rapidly became very disillusioned with the whole thing. I also feel that organised religion has caused far more problems than it has solved.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I've always looked old for my age.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

Living with very limited expectations is a much more immediate way of living. You really do just make the best of everything you have. I guess kids have that ability; they wait in joyful anticipation of something rather than that sense of entitlement.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

Mum left school at 15, and after a few years of modelling and dating jazz musicians, was married by 21 to my father, Mike Taylor, a journalist on the 'Daily Mirror.' They had my brother and me pretty quickly and had split up by the time I was two. I don't really have any memories of them as a couple.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I first met my husband when I was 15. He was very cool, in a band, all that kind of thing, but he took a long time to grow up. Our paths crossed again 10 years later, and after about two weeks I knew that was it. I'm glad I met him when I did, even though I was fairly young. Because I think sometimes you can crystallise into singledom.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

Death is final. No it is not just final, it's worse than that, it's diminishing: the dead continue to decrease, to occupy less space.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

In terms of 'Solaris,' I didn't really think about the religious aspect an awful lot. There's one scene at a dinner party, and it's discussed, but it wasn't an overwhelming theme for me.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I always think I love work, and I knew early on that I wanted to be an actress. Then I meet people who have truly dedicated their lives to acting, and I realise that I'm so completely in the back seat.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I think the difference between finding happiness, or moments of happiness, is how you choose to interpret things. That's a rather shocking responsibility. That we're responsible for our own happiness. It's not those around us.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I have a massive divide between being a competent human being and being completely hopeless, when it comes to logic.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I think it's incumbent on actresses to bring something else to the part which isn't in the script.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I always keep myself busy. I'm writing. Or I'm creating something. Or I'm doing stuff with the kids. I'm up incredibly early in the morning; I go to bed incredibly late at night.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

It's how the '70s were for movies, the 2000s are for TV. I think it's a phenomenal time for TV and to be involved in it.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I happen to find motherhood a very natural state, but I know a lot of other people don't.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

My concentration span is truly that of a gnat. Some people have this ladder, and that's all there is - the ladder. I have the ladder, too, but there's a building around it with scaffolding, and lots of windows for me to peek into. Then suddenly I'll remember, 'Oh, there's the ladder. I should be concentrating on that.'

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

Some actors are like flowers basking in the sun - they love the attention, and the fans get what they want. With me it's different. I know the fans aren't getting what they want. And I'm certainly not getting what I want.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I was brought up by a Marxist rationalist stepfather, so I don't believe in the supernatural or religion or horoscopes, and the absolute nature of death is quite helpful for me. My husband was there, then he wasn't.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

Scribbling things down is my therapy. I filter later.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I play Nitin Sawhney's 'Letting Go' repeatedly, nonstop. I find it transformative. I'm so glad iPods were invented so I didn't have to drive everyone around me mad with the repetition.

Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone

I feel awful for women who are trying to raise kids on their own, with zero income and no fathers present - that's single motherhood.