Sometimes when you play the same character for years, it’s hard to stretch, so this was fantastic.

It certainly extended me as an actress and made me dig deep, which is great because I would hate to be stereotyped.

It was a little bit of a challenge because Nalo’s character is so different from the person I am in real life. I had to do things I wouldn’t do but then, that’s what acting is all about.

But as an actor you do want to challenge yourself and step outside what you have done in the past and that what I like to do, I like to jump around and try different things and stretch myself.

We worked very very hard. I was forced into big parts from a very young age, probably sometimes being forced into playing roles that I wasn’t quite ready for but there is nothing like being pushed into something like that to give you maturity as a young actress

The growing pains of … being an actor, that was a little frustrating at times because you feel like you have great capacity to do many things. And yet there seems to be a misunderstanding about who you are and what you're trying to do. And that requires patience, and people eventually will understand.

It’s been one of the greatest acting challenges of my life,

the only way I have even made it to this age is because I chose to learn and grow from my limitations.

I thought 'I can't be an actor, I can't'. Then this film came up and it was like someone saying to me, 'You can, don't give up'.

The only, let's say, the comfort I took was — and even then, I kind of leant on it — was the fact that I knew that I was an actress and that I could play different roles because I was continuously being offered extraordinary stretches, shall we say, as an actress, to play parts which were way out of my range. However, I would do it. And I managed to just skin by by the skin of my teeth, you know, playing roles where I was much older than I actually was, playing Walter Pidgeon's wife in "If Winter Comes," you know?

I made choices, and then, having made them, I had fewer choices.

I figured early on [acting] was what I wanted to do for a job. And I certainly hoped it would work out, and that I would be playing lots of different parts. But I don't think I anticipated being an ant!

I thought that the acting talent is something that you are born with. But now I have realized, with this drama, that acting is something that requires you to pour endless efforts on each piece.

It was a difficult decision to make, but I was young and I had big dreams, so I followed them. I did well in Tunis, but my acting wasn’t really being seen in other countries.