Naomie Harris Quotes

I always find filming stressful. I get very caught up thinking about my character – ‘Am I doing it right? Should it be done this way?’

Kids should be naughty and go through that rebellious phase I didn’t have.

For some reason, I just lack that ability to be embarrassed about going up to people. I even do it for friends if they want to ask someone out.

There are certain expectations that are put on you as a child actor, but mainly it’s just turn up and say your lines with a lot of energy and a cute smile.

To have the kind of success I have had is really amazing, and I am incredibly grateful.

Actors need steely determination. It’s a tough profession with plenty of knocks along the way. You have to be very determined and never take ‘no’ for an answer.

The Windrush era is a very important part of British history as it helps us understand how and why we became the multicultural society we are today, and also helps us understand the history of race relations in this country.

I really, really love Daniel Craig as Bond.

I have many different sides; I can be the life and soul of the party – or a wallflower.

I live on the same street as my family, actually. I live across the road. I’m a real family person!

We eat food all the time and don’t really understand what goes into something like bread.

Be open and honest, but perceptive to your boss‘s situation. That’s my advice to graduates worried about working with a new boss.

I don’t think I have the assets to play the more traditional Bond Girl.

I would never wear anything too revealing. I’m not a fan of dresses where you look nude… I think that looks a bit desperate.

I’ve never been that person who wants a Rolls Royce or wants to live in a mansion or what have you.

I still pray a lot. I still believe in God. I just don’t believe in any set religion.

It’s true about the eyes being the window to the soul. Your face can be etched with worry, and twisted by ageing, but the eyes tell the true story of who you are.

Getting to travel around the world and go to glamorous locations is certainly not what I had as a kid.

I try to be upbeat. I read this book which tells you to write down everything that you’re grateful for each day. Now I’m constantly noticing all the little things that make me joyful.

Hollywood ‘friends’ are only after one thing. They’re looking out for the next big thing, and they don’t want to miss out on you just in case.

Your boss is only human and just wants the best from you.

I’m incredibly impatient; I’d like to be less so, and more content with the now.

I think there’s nothing more amazing than helping people every day.

I think my roles have been wonderfully varied. Not one has been racially stereotypical, and I have purposely chosen them like that.

When you go somewhere like Kenya and you see how the children don’t have pencils and pens, and all of these things are considered luxuries, and what a privilege they see education as and how hungry they are to learn, I wanted to give my brother and sister long lectures. That definitely stayed with me.

Everybody struggles with being an oddball. It’s tough trying to fit in when you’re a kid; then you become an adult and you think, ‘I’m just going to be myself and either they accept it or they don’t.’ But you know what? I like me, and that’s the most important thing.

Make-up is an extension of your clothes.

I was brought up in Britain, and I’m very proud of my Britishness and my culture.

I know a lot of actors who get a part and then they dissect it and they want to change it and they want to add stuff. I’m always amazed and so impressed by actors who do that.

I did not enjoy Cambridge. But I shouldn’t blame Cambridge alone. I wasn’t ready for university or for the wrench of leaving home. It was a big cultural shock.

I’m totally in love with Jane Austen and have always been in love with Jane Austen. I did my dissertation at university on black people in eighteenth-century Britain – so I’d love to do a Jane Austen-esque film but with black people.

I cry at random things, like a flower, or someone giving me a present, or my sister giving me a nice hug.

The wonderful thing about drama school is that it stretches you in a way the industry doesn’t.

The ethos of most films is that you make a film, you exploit the community, you exploit the environment, and it’s OK because you made a great film, you know?

When you’re on set, the crew are like your family because you see them every day, six days a week.

My mum believes in me almost more than I believe in myself.

I like to believe that we all pray to the same god.

I was too much of an innocent when I went to university.

As a society we should be encouraging people out of the debt-culture mindset, not promoting it.

I’m not the greatest driver. I don’t know if I’ll ever master the art.