Ashley Jensen Quotes
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I just wanted to be an actress. It never occurred to me that I could become famous, because I'm not one of those people who's automatically going to be the lead. I always saw myself as the mate.
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Americans are so direct. They'd ask me, 'What's your five-year plan? Do you have a five-year plan?' I don't know what I'm having for my tea tonight let alone a five-year plan.
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I was Lady Gaga way before her time. I had a wee kettle for a handbag. Didn't everyone, at some point? One of the teachers used to call me Dame Flora Robson because I had this big, long Victorian skirt. And I wore a Peruvian hat. It was the 1980s - people were wearing lots of lace.
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I know what I look like. I'm not a babe who's automatically going to be the leading-lady type. I think I would always be cast as the friend. I probably tend to look crap more often than I look good. I like messing around and pulling funny faces and doing funny walks.
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In a world of iPads and emails, nothing has really changed in the theatre. You still get in an hour early, do your wardrobe, put an old pair of tights under your wig, and you have, 'This is your call, Miss Jensen'. I got exhilarated by that.
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Two days before I got the audition for 'Extras,' I was offered a theatre role, and I asked my husband, Terry, whether I should take it or not. He said, 'No, wait and see what else comes in.' Lo and behold, along came 'Extras.' Now that was lucky!
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I still giggle when someone asks for my address and I say, 'Hollywood, Los Angeles.'
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When I hear the bagpipes, it makes the hairs on my neck stand on end. It always makes me weep.
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It means I wake up to sunshine every morning, and I can afford to drink better wine at night. But I haven't completely sold out to Hollywood.
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Life's too short to worry about injecting botulism into your face to get rid of a tiny line because you've laughed too much. To me, that's a bit warped.
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I get quite excited about things other people have worn. I went through a phase as a student when I wore a lot of 1940s tea dresses.
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My husband is always telling me: 'We're on holiday - we don't need to have an itinerary!' But I always want to see as much as I can. Sometimes, I come back from holiday needing a holiday.
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To be honest, I probably wouldn't have gone to Hollywood if I hadn't been offered 'Ugly Betty' because I was a wee bit feart. But you have to make yourself frightened. That's what keeps you alive.
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I was on my own, living in Los Angeles, and I didn't know my way around, so I thought I'd walk everywhere. Well, that certainly got me noticed. Any woman who walks any distance at all is automatically regarded as a hooker!
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I wanted to live where I could pop to the bar that Humphrey Bogart took Lauren Bacall to, or the little restaurant where Charlie Chaplin had a booth.
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Mind you, if a blockbuster movie was offered, I wouldn't say no. I can do accents - I don't always have to be Scottish.
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I always felt slightly grubbier than most American people.
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L.A. hasn't changed me that much - I've not forgotten where I'm from, you know. And I need to find a haggis, but no-one seems to sell them over here.
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I don't even think places like the National Youth Theatre (NYT) are necessarily about wanting to be an actor when you grow up. They're about meeting people from different backgrounds and different religions and different cultures, and mixing with people that you wouldn't ordinarily meet.
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I think that children that are acting are always pretty savvy anyway because you're conducting yourself around adults a lot of the time, aren't you? But there is this worry now that children just want to be famous.
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We have a house in Umbria that we bought just before we went to America. That meant we couldn't go there as often as we thought, but now we're back, we're going to start using it more. I love the light, the countryside, the language and the fact that children are accepted everywhere. The Italians get passionate about everything, too.
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Nothing is forever, and I do still talk about when I'll come back to Britain. I'd love to come back and do a nice big juicy period drama. I don't understand it when people suddenly turn their back on Britain or Scotland. I'm so aware of it, and it's so much a part of who I am.
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I want to go to Lapland and see Father Christmas, and now I've got a child, so I've got an excuse. Also, I'd like to go to South America especially as I'm now living in that part of the world, in L.A. now. And I must get down to Mexico.
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My mum Margaret was a single parent, but though life was a bit of a struggle she gave me every encouragement.