Dominic Cooper

Dominic: For the three years I was in school training to be an actor, I was told, 'It's very unlikely you'll work at all on the stage or in film', so I feel I have to take all the opportunities I can. I'm terribly lucky. There's a constant fear that it could end at any moment. To stay lucky I have to work at it.

Dominic: [On his role as Dakin in The History Boys] Dakin is so confident that he seems to be able to get what he wants out of people without offending them. I do think for an 18-year-old to be that self-assured with his looks and his intelligence is quite rare, but I think everybody remembers one guy or girl like that who just knew they were going to succeed no matter what happened, and Dakin is one of those people. The tough thing about playing him was trying to give him more charm than arrogance.

Dominic: [On the change from theatre acting to film acting] Normally, you do things in the theatre and it's gone; it's in people's memories and in your memory at that time. But we now have something that we're very proud of and we care so much about on film.

Dominic: My weakness is making decisions - not being honest, not being honest with myself - saying for example that I will do something when I should be directly honest and say I won't be able to be there, feeling worried about the ultimate decision, and not having the balls to be decisive enough.

Dominic: Be content with what you have, if it isn't meant to happen, you'll get over it.

Dominic: It frustrates me that we are such cynics in this country.