Zawe Ashton Quotes

"For me, food is all about nostalgia."

"Being yourself, or being judged as yourself, is really scary."

"No-one tells you about being in episodic television and it ending. No-one tells you how painful it is. How bizarre it is when you've dedicated your life to one character for five years."

"Art galleries are the best first date spots for my money."

"It has taken a long time for me to really dress as the artist that I am: I'm an indie girl, I like experimental, I like things to be subverted. Details are the fun part."

"I have a very short attention span."

"Episodic TV is notoriously brutal because just when you think 'I've got this, I know this character' you can pick up the script for series four and you die in the first episode - or your character suddenly transitions from a woman to a man."

"Mum got me involved in every activity under the sun - singing, dancing and drama classes at the Anna Scher theatre school."

"Art should be for everyone, not just the rich."

"I've had doors slammed in my face, I've been shouted at in my face in meetings when I've stood up for myself."

"When you work in film sets, when you're working on projects that are male dominated, you are always treated as the last priority."

"I'm not really sure what defines 'success in the real world' to be honest! It's so objective once you graduate, some people work, some people start families, some go looking for themselves up mountains in Peru."

"It's wonderful that newer brands such as Fenty are making clear statements about being for all skin tones."

"If I was someone who wanted to do just love-interest roles then I'd be in a difficult position. But thankfully I'm someone who likes to do things that are edgy and different."

"If you cut me open I bleed East London."

"I've always acted, it's my passion and belief system."

"If there's one person I looked up to obsessively, it was Will Smith. There wasn't anyone who looked like me on TV in England. 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' was my touchstone."

"Tennessee Williams moves my soul."

"I'm not really concerned about being liked on stage - I'm a bit more concerned about it off stage."

"What a character wears and how it affects their mood and their movements has always been very important to me. A character's clothes, if they're truthful, can make audiences feel something."

"I like clothes that feel fresh and surprising."

"I actually grew up around the corner from where Harold Pinter did. If you want a snapshot of my childhood, me and Pinter, we essentially grew up together."

"I've never lived in north or west London, so I'd like to come out of my comfort zone for a bit. But Stoke Newington is where my heart is, it's where I'm born and bred."

"I'm someone who likes to explore the complexities in people."

"I love writing with pen and paper; I hate technology."

"I know I'm different and I don't fit in to any kind of generic mould."

"The first stage play I ever did was a school play called 'The Wishing Chair.'"

"I'm Hackney born and bred and find it hard to call anywhere else home despite the extreme ongoing gentrification which gets me down."

"Good writing shouldn't be wrapped in cellophane. It should be open to the elements and full of maggots and it should be left to grow and deepen and fester."

"Each project you do demands a different diet in a way. Because there's so much tension in 'Betrayal,' so much holding of breath and emotion, I can't get too happy in my food choices or I can't get alert enough."