[on being awarded the OBE in June 2010] The cherry on the cake and way beyond anything I would have imagined for myself. - Sophie Okonedo

I'm just going where the stories are. I'll quite happily work in a tiny theater in the middle of nowhere if it's the right story. It always leaves a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth when I do something purely for money. I always end up being absolute shit in it. I'm not really an actor who can make rubbish writing good. Some people are very good at it. It's a real skill.

I'm drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. I'm not saying I don't love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because I'm always struggling with it myself.

I use all sorts of sources — but I always go back to the script. And then I just let the thing live in my body a bit. So when I'm on set I'm not thinking in any linear way about what I'm doing: I just do it.