Ewan McGregor quotes:

From there I did a one year theatre acting course in Fife, and then three years of drama school in London.

Mainly I was able to perform with music - I played the French horn, I would sing, and I was a drummer in the pipe band. So I think it was a way to show off.

I really want to play Princess Leia. Stick some big pastries on my head. Now that would be interesting.

I've always been really uninterested in politicians and the acts of the Houses of Parliament, or government as an idea. But I'm interested in politics in that I'm a member of the world, and I have strong feelings of right and wrong, but I can't get into the ins and outs of it.

Success is tricky to deal with, both professionally and in your personal life.

Giving kids whatever they ask for is disastrous parenting. There's no sense of something earned. I'm sorry, but when you're 12, you don't need a new cell phone every few months just because a new one comes out.

I don't think having separate bathrooms is a key to a successful marriage, if you love one another.

Producing good stuff can be quite tough, and it involves a lot of frustration, but I always like things to be jolly and happy, and I forget that's actually not the point at the end of the day.

My feeling about seeing the world is that it's going to change you necessarily, just the very fact of being out there and meeting people from different cultures and different ways of life.

Ultimately, you have to not worry about people thinking you should have played him differently. You're the one playing the part so it has to be yours.

I was born in '71, so I remember bits of glam rock on 'Top of the Pops' toward the late '70s, but I had no idea what kind of world it was. I didn't like the music, either.

I certainly have no plans to leave London. It's a great town.

It's not my job to try and alter the director's style - he's in charge, and I'll always give him my trust.

When I was a kid I was much happier watching old movies than kids' TV, and I ended up watching all the old Ealing comedies.

I never imagined it wouldn't work out for me. I had that absolute certainty in myself that has seen me through, I think, and my parents were absolutely behind me all the way.

I find politicians so desperately boring. I don't trust them and don't believe in them.

Once you've agreed the script, you must be willing to go as far as it needs to go on set.

Everything you do on set is directly related to your imagination when you read the script for the first time.

When you take away the phone and e-mail and you don't have a million things to run around to, it allows your mind the space to think more expansively about the things that matter.

I was nine years old when I made up my mind that that was what I definitely wanted to do.

A lot of parents tell their children that if they want to be an actor, that's fine, but they should do something else first, so they've got something to fall back on. It doesn't work like that, as far as I'm concerned.

I found my partner, my life partner, and I really am in love with my wife, and we have a lovely time, and we share a long history together and children together, and that's it.

I don't pay much attention to career or what other people think. I've always been quite arrogant.

The script, I always believe, is the foundation of everything. And if you don't connect to that foundation, if you don't believe in that and feel that you wanna spend three, four months of your life exploring it, then all of the other elements are secondary.

I like to dance, but it's not my weekend activity. I'm not a clubber.

If you're suddenly doing something you don't want to do for four years, just so you've got something to fall back on, by the time you come out you don't have that 16-year-old drive any more and you'll spend your life doing something you never wanted to do in the first place.

You can be playing a line some way and the director wants you to change that, or you can disagree. But I always think that the creative conversation between director and actor is what leads to good work.

I'm sure it's not great fun for them, or for any parent, when their child says they want to be an actor, 'cos it's quite an uncertain business and it can be terribly hard for most actors.

The other two things are... well, I had a huge appetite for old black and white movies on BBC 2. At the weekends they used to run matinees, and the more romantic the better.

I got married because I fell in love with this woman. I had a baby with her because we wanted to have children. But that's not because of some philosophical ideal at all, no.

Above all things, I believe in love.

I worked as a waiter when I was 15 and got a chance to appreciate good, simple food. There's nothing better than a boiled egg with toast.

UNICEF is successfully giving children and young people all over the world opportunities and hope. Just like the ones we met on the Long Way Down - protecting them from exploitation and giving them chances in life.

I left halfway through my third year to start Lipstick On Your Collar, which was the first thing I ever did.

I fight cynicism. It`s too easy. It`s really boring. It`s much harder to be positive and see the wonder of everything. Cynicism is a bunch of people who aren`t as talented as other people, knocking them because they make them feel even more untalented.

My feeling about seeing the world is that its going to change you necessarily, just the very fact of being out there and meeting people from different cultures and different ways of life.

I love skiing, scuba diving and hang-gliding.

My heart aches completely, every hour, every day, and only when I'm with you does the pain go away.

I started watching golf for the first time yesterday. I`m really worried about myself. I was actually enjoying it.

I've been waiting nearly twenty years to have my own light saber. Nothing's cooler than being a Jedi Knight.

What matters most with any regimen, whether it's to lose weight or stop drinking or smoking, is your willingness to seek help and your desire to say 'no more.

...as an actor there`s nothing better than a great moody moment to play with nothing to say. It`s so much easier to do because you can really get inside your head.

As a child I was taken to the pantomime or the theatre and I would always, always fall in love with somebody on the stage. And want to have sex with them.

Then I left school at 16 and worked in Perth Repertory Theatre, which was quite nearby where I lived. And I worked there for about six or seven months, as part of the stage crew.

I am so honoured to have been given this opportunity to become an Ambassador. It's a new and different venture for me and one that I know will widen my wider perspective on life. I'm in a position to use the recognition from my work to do something really positive for children

I like the idea of being a sculptor. Just me alone, making something - that solitary existence.

At school there was no acting to be had other than school plays which I did now and again.

I want to wear skinny jeans when I'm in my 70s. Why not? Who cares?

I think it's quite tricky for actors to release albums. It's difficult, because I'm an actor, you know, I'm not a musician. I love singing, but I don't have a big repertoire of songs that I've written; I mean, I've got a few, but nothing that I could fill an album with, and I don't want to do it just for the sake of it.

I loved being in Trainspotting and having to dive into the filthiest toilet in Scotland.

I was determined to make working with UNICEF not just something that I did on the trip but something I'd do for the rest of my life

There are people who are younger than I who are more uptight than I am. It's not necessarily an age thing. I mean nobody is offering me 20-year old leads any more.

I find that the acting's getting easier - with experience, everything is more instinctual.

I'm just into making quality stuff if I can, with interesting people and good scripts. But it's very important that it's about something and that it says something. Otherwise, I don't know what the point is, really.

I'm just looking for that moment to drop my Jedi knickers and pull out my real light saber.

I love acting and don't find it to be very hard. I recognize when I've nailed it, and I can be very proud of myself.

I'm in a position where I can do many things most people just daydream about.

For all of the hurtling towards climate change, there's also a lot more understanding of it than there was when we were kids. They don't call environmentalists tree huggers any more, so there's hope!

I'm fiercely proud to be Scottish.

So, no, I'm not trying to crack into Hollywood, although I'll make films there if they're good scripts.

The thing about parenting rules is there aren't any. That's what makes it so difficult.

I'm not a guy who takes films for strong political messages.

I remember in Shallow Grave I remember a few times when we'd only have to do one take. But when you did have to do more than one, you'd build on the one you'd done.

I'm not really a blockbuster, I'm not a member of that audience really.

Of course I voted for him. He wasn't a politician; he was a craze.

The beautiful thing about it is that no two directors or actors work the same way. You also learn not to be afraid of discussion and conflict.

I think theatre reminds us what we're doing as actors, because every night and every matinee day, you have an audience telling you what's working and what's not. And that's very good for us as actors to hone our skills.

I don't like the idea of not being able to knock about the town, you know.

Then, one day, when you least expect it, the great adventure finds you.

I`ve got a black woolen hat and it`s got Pervert written across the front of it. It`s the name of the clothing label. And I was with my wife and my baby at the supermarket and I didn`t think. I just put my hat on Clara`s head, because it was cold. And the looks. I couldn`t figure out why I was getting death looks. And then I realized my 10-month old baby`s wearing a hat with the word Pervert written on it and these people were like, `There`s Satan! There`s Satan out with his kid!` And then I made a point of her wearing it every time we went there.

This middle-budget drama movies are just gone.

I love romance. It goes back to the films I watched as a kid.

I'm not a superhero fan. I don't see those films. I'm not interested.

Starting with a party scene for 600 cast and end up singing on top of a giant elephant...does it get any better than this?

If you want to produce really horrible, obnoxious kids, say yes to them all the time.

I'm always interested in playing different people, in different situationsIt doesn't matter to me whether someone is in love with a man or a woman. I find the idea of love and romance interesting. I'm a sucker for it. I like playing someone who's falling in love because I like the sensation of it. People do extraordinary things when they're falling in love.

I was with a friend of mine recently who was dying and while he was lying there with his family around his bed, I just knew that was it, that was the best you can hope for in life - to have your family and the people who love you around you at the end.

Producing good stuff can be quite tough, and it involves a lot of frustration, but I always like things to be jolly and happy, and I forget thats actually not the point at the end of the day.

If I want to do the kind of work that I like to act in, I need to open my mind to it.

Isn't Halle Berry the most beautiful woman? I have a film I'd like to be in her with. I mean, I'd like to be with her in

As fathers, we know what a force for life children can be. They represent all of our futures.

When you take the R sound out of French accent, and you just replace it with an R, it sounds Mexican.

It's just fantastic to go out and meet people in the world and get to really remote places.

My wife's French. I mean I speak a bit of French but I've lived amongst French, you know, most of my adult life.

It's impossible to put your finger on what that is exactly other than protecting the environment that the actors get to find the scenes and build the scenes and invest in them. I think that's key and that's what I've learned from all the great directors I've worked with.

I had extra thick light sabers because mine kept getting bent. I'd be halfway through a fight and it would be like 'Oops, sorry! Mine's bent again!

Seasons may change winter to spring, but I love you until the end of time Come what may, come what may, I will love you until my dying day Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste, it all revolves around you. And there's no mountain too high no river too wide Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide But I love you until the end of time

When I would knock about the town in London, I was doing it with my head down, walking very quickly and it had become the norm for me because I'm recognized there. And people are not unkind but occasionally there's a sort of British who do you think you are sort of, I don't really think I'm anybody. I just go about my normal day. But sometimes you're faced with that.

I'm sometimes asked 'Can you lose the accent?'and I say 'No, but I can put on another one'.

UNICEF is doing amazing things here. They're helping these groups of kids to be mine aware, and using drama and workshops to teach children in all of the schools in the area to be aware of mines and what to do if they find one, and if somebody's hurt, not to rush in - all of the essential things that kids need to know.

People are incredibly rude about it sometimes. Like, `What? You`re married?` Strange reaction to have. Proves what people`s ideas about marriage are. `We`re having a baby.` `What?` As if it`s the end of the world. Of course, it`s the start of a brilliant world.

When I moved to London, you could park your motorcycle in the pavement, on the sidewalk. We would stay here and just leave it and go about your business. But now something was sort of encroaching in London. There's cameras everywhere. You can't do anything. You're not allowed to be in a group.

No, no I'm not, no, but I just think... when people are naked it tells you a lot about their relationships.

I remember in Shallow Grave I remember a few times when we'd only have to do one take But when you did have to do more than one, you'd build on the one you'd done.

I would tend to be drawn to independent cinema as a viewer, probably more than the big blockbuster.

I played music all through school and I kind of performed that way.

I've never worked with an acting coach, no.

I think rehearsal can be important if it's done in a way that works. Often, rehearsal can be a waste of time.

I trained in the theatre and I love the theatre. I get such a thrill seeing anything in the theatre.

I think if you're going on thinking oh, I can do this with my eyes shut, then it's probably not the right thing to be doing, you know.

I'm a father of four girls and I know very much about the relationship between a father and his daughters.

I've played in pipe bands in Scotland, and I've always played guitars and drums and stuff.

He`s quite extraordinary with his moves and spins. I think he was a baton girl in a past life [on his co-star Hayden Christensen].

I won`t buy into the Hollywood thing...I want to be in good movies.

It's important, that spirit of youth, and when you're 16 that can get you kickstarted.

I'm sent a script. I read the script. If I love it, I want to do it. And that's it I don't care who's in it, how much money is behind it, really to an extent who's directing it.

The script, I always believe, is the foundation of everything.

There is some really good crack when I come back here. This is where I learned to swear.

Conservative's the last thing I am.

I wanted to be an actor since I was nine years old.

I'm doing my bit for the women's movement. The women have always been naked in movies, and now I'm just desperate to take my clothes off as much as possible.

I think you know, to not open your mind to television is silly because there's so much good work happening on television.

I don't do things lightly; I don't take a job then just phone it in - I've never done that.

No, I'm putting it away, trying to buy a house for my family. The goal is to use the money to move into a big house, so my daughter can have a garden.

I was quite interested to do television series and I started exploring an idea of a longer commitment, a new idea, a new TV show that would've meant a longer commitment but I opened my mind up.

A tent, a roll mat, a little bit of food, a bit of petrol in your tank and a vague idea of where you're going and that's all you need.

Don't worry about telling your actor what to do.

I especially love my Moto Guzzi.

I'm not really attracted to action sequences, because my experience is that it's quite a slow process to shoot them, and often we're not involved as actors.

Actors don't like to read what they're supposed to do.