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.

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.

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.