Andrew Scott quotes:

It sounds maybe a little old fashioned, but the parts I want to play and I do play, you don't want to inject too much of your own personality. What you sacrifice then is a slight mystery.

It's very difficult to make comedy work; I think it's a very underrated genre.

Life's too short.

If one story becomes too hot, then you can't forget it. As an actor, you want to remain fluid.

I do sometimes play characters that are a bit ambiguous. You've got to be brave about that sort of stuff. I like the sense of people not feeling too secure, not immediately knowing what they have in front of them.

People get distracted by box-office figures and take jobs because they think it will advance their careers.

I have a terrible superstition of writing things down.

I've played all these extreme guys, but playing an everyman type has its own challenges.

I'm not a big guy for research. You've got to take a risk.

'Serious acting' is the kind of acting that I don't ever respond to.

The goal is always just trying to stretch yourself as an actor.

I had a really fantastic dialect coach that I worked very well with, and I was constantly surprised by the different intonations that the Russian dialect has.

Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that.

Audiences like to be challenged and to be actively involved and try to guess an outcome.

I am a private person; I think that's important if you're an actor. But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person.

One of my favourite parts of acting is the clothes that you get to wear, because it's very important.

I want to keep everything balanced. That's why it's important not to have too much fanfare.

Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it.

But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person.

Never, ever wear three-quarter length trousers. Even in the summer.

The kind of actors I admire move through different characters and genres.

I can totally understand why people say: 'I'm going to do this T.V. series so that I can buy a flat'. But you've got to see what's of value to you as an actor.

I think in my job, it's quite difficult to find work on television... you don't necessarily want to get a profile for something that you don't fully believe in.

I find any sort of acting that doesn't have any humor in it is mind-numbingly boring. 'Serious acting' is the kind of acting that I don't ever respond to.

It's a thrilling world, and people really like stories about secrets, which is the essence of a spy drama.