Gugu Mbatha-Raw

“I like the collarbone, a very clean collarbone. I think there's something also very delicate and balletic about that part of a woman's body, and I'm not really a cleavage person, but I do li...”

“I definitely grew up to Nina Simone and a lot of Ella Fitzgerald. And I loved Amy Winehouse. I loved that sort of soulful singer.”

“My personal style is somewhat androgynous and simple. With my lifestyle, I've become more of a minimalist.”

“Corsets were a challenge in 'Belle;' fake nails tripped me up in 'Blackbird.' Guess I'm not a mani type of girl!”

“In terms of 'Beyond the Lights' and 'Belle,' they're definitely stories about identity. They're female empowerment stories. So I'm exploring that through my work.”

“I was born in the '80s, so I don't really remember it very strongly, but the music is so iconic. And so those artists - Madonna, Prince, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston - you still hear those...”

“When I was nine, 'The Borrowers' was such a big series for me!”

“I've always sung. I was really into musical theater when I was growing up. As a kid, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, actually, on cassette tapes.”

“Watching and learning from the great Josette Bushell-Mingo, who was playing Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at the time, and then to return to the same stage six months later playing a lea...”

“The 'Pride and Prejudice' with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle was something I watched on a weekly basis with my mum at home in Oxfordshire.”

“Different fragrances promote different emotions, and I find that fragrance gets me in the frame of mind for that person.”

“I played Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz.' That was my first role on stage.”

“I didn't really grow up on hip-hop. Ella Fitzgerald and the old school jazz divas are more my comfort zone.”

“I spent a chunk of time in New Orleans doing the movie 'Free State Of Jones,' getting to work with Matthew McConaughey, and also did 'Concussion,' where I got to work with Will Smith.”

“One of my favourite places is Hampstead Heath. When I first moved to London, I lived in Highgate, and I would walk on the Heath at the weekends and go to the Kenwood House coffee shop.”

“I just love performing so much, and I threw myself into every musical theater production that was going in my home town and at school. And then, I went to the National Youth Music Theatre, w...”

“I'm a very improvisational cook. I sort of like to make things up as I go along. I'm quite creative in the kitchen.”

“You've got to find a way to relate to people. I just did an improvised episode for Joe Swanberg's new Netflix show, 'Easy,' and it was a huge learning curve for me and taught me so much abou...”

“That's the wonderful thing about acting - you play a role. It's about humanity, rather than labeling.”

“I don't really want to just play the girlfriend or the love interest. I get so many scripts like that, and - not to moan, because I'm really fortunate - but I just look at those scripts, and...”