Anna Maxwell Martin

I was always a show girl. My parents were wonderful. There wasn't a lot going on where we lived, but they ferried me to classes and competitions all over the place. When I was 12, I came to London as a finalist in a singing competition and I was completely wide-eyed.

I don't get the jitters and I don't get nervous, because I build that comfort on set for myself. Sometimes if I'm gonna do something really crazy, it helps me to yell or look like an idiot on set, so that when I'm about to do a scene, I've already embarrassed myself. I find ways to work around getting the jitters.

If we live a self-directed, self-motivated, self-centered life, always needing to get our own way, then we're going to be miserable. In fact, many times we believe it's our problems that are making us unhappy when, in reality, it's because we're focused on ourselves!