Dominic Cooper

You never know really what anyone thinks about you - that's why all my closest friends are ones I've had since my schooling days when I was 5. And I surround myself with people who I trust and who know me.

There are probably only a certain number of people who can understand or tolerate how long a job will take and what demands it puts on you. And why should they? It breeds a strange kind of selfishness immersing yourself in a character for so long.

The thrill of a photo-realist painter is if you get really close to the painting, it looks just like a photograph. Whereas in my case, if you get close to my paintings, they totally fall apart - so I'm about as far from a photo-realist as it gets.