I never did think of myself as handsome, terribly attractive yes, but not handsome. I think I realised there were two communities in Northern Ireland when I was about nine or 10, not because there was any trouble but because in certain years my parents would keep us indoors on the 12th of July. I couldn't figure that out, because all my mates were out dancing in the streets and I wanted to go out and join them. So it was then that I sensed a 'them and us' attitude. No, I don't get obsessed with acting. Because in the past when I have got obsessed about it, it really got in the way of the creative process. I've learned to hang the character on the coat-peg at the end of the day, and when I leave in the morning I pick it up again. And I had to work at that because the other way lies a strange sort of madness. Laid-back? My wife said that? Well, I guess I am. It takes a lot to get me riled. The truth is I love the insecurity part of it, it keeps me on my toes. I think you become bland and predictable without the stress and angst. There's a certain lethargy that sets in." - on the widespread unemployment of actors and their fear of it "Before Schindler's List, I wouldn't have believed movies had a lot of power for social change. But having seen what happened with Schindler's List, and touring the world with it, it really made me realize the power of images." "Some mornings you wake up and think, gee I look handsome today. Other days I think, what am I doing in the movies? I wanna go back to Ireland and drive a forklift." "Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyze it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning." "In Los Angeles, it's like they jog for two hours a day and then they think they're morally right. That's when you want to choke people, you know?" I grew up in Northern Ireland, of course. Lived all through the Troubles; saw violence, the results of violence, at first hand. It's always terrified me and fascinated me. So it was a gut reaction, something about how that rage can eat you alive. I can understand that. I haven't known it myself, but I knew guys who did. Some of them aren't on this planet any more because of it.