I left drama school in the summer of 2005. It has been the most amazing odyssey ever since. I’ve worked in Paris, Moscow, New York, Milan, Reykjavik, Brussels, Ystad in Sweden, Santa Fe in New Mexico, Los Angeles and, of course, London. I never know where the wind will take me next. I often miss my family when I’m away. And yet, every film, every story is about family in some way.

While we were filming Thor, Anthony Hopkins once leant over and whispered, “You know, all the great actors – James Mason, Robert Mitchum, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton – they were all such open, charming, optimistic people, but they each had a little suitcase of pain, and that’s what made them great.”

I have lived out of many suitcases, and it’s my frequent professional obligation to turn up on set and excavate some pain. Sometimes you have to go a long way round the houses to come home. I haven’t had to fight quite so many gods and monsters as Odysseus. But it’s been one hell of a journey, so far. x