Jay Ryan quotes:

Coming from New Zealand and Australia is like a tough pre-school for Hollywood. And having been on 'Neighbours,' even though the agents I met with hadn't seen it, they knew it's where Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce had come from. It was a foot in the door.

The original theme of 'Beauty and the Beast' is don't judge a book by its cover. Love what's inside.

I guess I did get to tick a big one off the bucket list, though, and that was being on a giant billboard smack-bang in the hub of Hollywood Boulevard. That was... well, pretty Hollywood.

The network made me join Twitter. I am very scared of social media, and I don't know how to use it, so it's kind of trial and error.

I was shooting a mini-series for Sundance/BBC, called 'Top of the Lake,' that was shot by Jane Campion, who's a beautiful native New Zealander and famous film director. The role I was playing was very intense, and they shaved half my hair off. So, I looked like this post-apocalyptic character.

My family aren't performers. They're just normal people. They don't understand this entertainment world. They just think it's mental. They have no idea what I'm doing in America.

I felt more comfortable playing other people than being myself, when I was a kid. And then, the tables turned. Through my performances, I've become more comfortable with who I am, and then I just bring more of myself into the people that I play.

I was a very hyper-active child and my parents just didn't know what to do with me.