Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Naomie Harris - Page 2

I really enjoyed working with Daniel [Craig], because he's a brilliant actor at the top of his game. That gave me an opportunity to learn from the best, which is what you're always looking for as a performer in order to grow and get better at your craft. It was also great because he was so nice and incredibly supportive, because it really was an intimidating experience for me. He sort of held my hand and said, "We're in this together and we'll get through it together." And he did look after me.

When I started out in the profession, it was definitely about proving that I was worthy, but after achieving a certain amount of success, I realized I didn't have to prove anything to anybody.

I was out on the shooting range twice a week [for Skyfall]. I worked out with a personal trainer for two hours a day, five days a week. So, it was quite demanding!

Mandela is this extraordinary individual who can inspire the world. Instead of wanting revenge after being brutalized, he showed the world how to forgive.

[I like to cook] Shepherd's pie, which is a classic British dish. But my version reflects my Jamaican roots, because I add jerk to it as well.

I don't remember my childhood very well at all, but my earliest memory is holding a man's hand as I was walking down the street at about 1??. I can still remember the shoes I was wearing, but I don't know who the man was or what the memory relates to.

I was really nervous, because I was certain it was going to be bigger than anything I'd ever done before. But I was relieved when I actually discovered that there was a family atmosphere on the set, with a brother-sister team, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson running it all.

I am always interested in affecting people in some way, making them think about particular areas of history that they have never thought about or that they may have thought about in one way and then changing their view.

I'm always looking for the comfiest place to lie down, like a cat.

I'd like to believe that I would be able to give in the same way Mandela did, but in reality, I don't know whether that is true. It is much more likely that I would be left with an immense sense of injustice and immense desire for revenge.

I can't impersonate someone. That is not what I do. I can only take someone's essence and create a character out of that.

If you educate children, then they are capable of so much - you empower them, you give them choices, and you enable them to create the lives that they dream for themselves.

I just feel incredibly lucky. I went to drama school and about 28 of us graduated. I graduated from drama school in 2000, and I would say about two of us are working and able to make a living out of it. It is a tough profession. To have the kind of success I have had is really amazing, and I am incredibly grateful.

I never make suggestions. I really don't. I know a lot of actors who get a part and then they dissect it and they want to change it and they want to add stuff. I'm always amazed and so impressed by actors who do that.

Education opens the door to everything in terms of having a career and an impact on society and not being a slave to your job, really.

I never ever thought that I would be in a Bond film, ever, which is weird because I grew up loving these amazing movies.

In some ways, except that in that movie [Skyfall] I was mostly screaming and running away from the bad guys, whereas in this one I'm generally jumping into the action and fighting with them. So, yeah, it was somewhat similar, but also very different.

I'm afraid that what most people don't know about me is that I'm very close to my brother and sister, who are 16 and 13, and I think I'm a pretty good big sister to them.

I really like Roland Moret, Alexander McQueen and Marios Schwab, a young British designer.

It was also great shooting in London at Pinewood Studios because of all its history. So many of the 007 movies were filmed there, as well as classics by everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Jack Nicholson to Martin Scorcese. It's like working on hallowed ground. So, I felt a responsibility to make sure I did as good a job as I possibly could.

Acting is a career without a safety net, because it's not like a professional job where every year you hope to be promoted, and get a sense of career stability. There is never any stability in this business.

People have very strong opinions about how their national icons should be played.

It is great to be a part of big-budget movies, but it is harder to feel like you are contributing, in the sense that it has such big machinery behind it.

For some reason I just lack that ability to be embarrassed about going up to people. I even do it for friends if they want to ask someone out.

I definitely felt frightened [on Skyfall], but never in danger, because they were always so careful about everything. Some of the driving, particularly on that road around the sheer-drop cliff was actually done by stunt driver Ben Collin, who is otherwise known as The Stig from the TV show Pop Gear. He's a brilliant drive, nonetheless, it was terrifying to be careening along when a wrong turn would mean a thousand-foot drop and you're not in control and you want to slow the car down.

One of the saddest aspects for me about filming in South Africa was that the real inequalities are still very much in place - and those are economic inequalities.

Only do acting, if you don't want to do anything else. And know that it's a tough journey with a lot of rejection along the way. You have to have a lot of self-belief.

I'm absolutely loving being part of Bondiana, and that not only am I a Bond girl, but I get to be an agent as well.

People are already describing it [Skyfall] as the best Bond flick ever, and I really think it will be.

Mom's a writer, so I grew up reading scripts and I have a real respect for them and I know how much thought goes into creating a role, so I'm always interested to find out what was the thought process of the writer and how best can I convey it rather than trying to change it to suit myself.

When you film in Africa, it's almost like a character in and of itself because it is so beautiful and has this special magic that I've never experienced anywhere else. There is something so incredibly beautiful about the light.

I would say only be an actress if you genuinely feel the calling, because it's a tough profession.

What interests Sam Mendes are characters and relationships, and he was a genius at giving you the freedom to create the type of character you want, and also to explore and have fun with your fellow actors. For him, characters and relationships are really the heartbeat of the film, and then the action is the backdrop. By developing the characters, he makes you care that much more about the action and going on a journey with the characters.

You don't want to just preach to people; you want to get them emotionally involved, and I think you do that with a wonderful human story about one person's struggle.

Without education, you really can't dream as a child.