Clive Owen

Belfast during the Troubles looked like a different world.

As a teenager I was crazy about David Bowie. He was a huge inspiration for me. I dressed a little bit crazily in school and dyed my hair every colour under the sun.

I think I am more attracted to characters with a subtext, whatever that is and they don't necessarily have to be virtuous, but they have to at least be human.

You have the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, the Presbyterians, the Wesleyans, represented in each school, and they are each to take alternate days.

My first career ambitions involved turning into a boy; I intended to be either a railway guard or a knight errant.

They said I couldn't play anything but an English boy. I knew I could. So I went to New York.