Stephen Tompkinson - Reflections

Reflections

"I would say I do have that Everyman quality. My parents taught me to be grounded and respectful to people, to take anyone from any walk of life on the merits you meet them with. It must come over in my acting."

"I keep getting these posh people to play when really I'm a nice northern bloke adored by my grandma."

"You shift your priorities as you get older and become a dad. When I was in my twenties I used to spend all my time chasing my tail, expending useless energy, worrying about stuff I didn't need to. I'm much less stressed now."

"Garth (his character in In Deep) has a work first sort of ethic, and I don't any more. In the past my work took over too much. On your own you can become self-obsessed and you can let yourself and your work take over. Now that I'm a father I know why I go to work and why I come home. It's to provide a great big future for my daughter."

In a reflective mood, he responded to a question about past relationships by saying, "If you genuinely love someone and you tell them for whatever reason that the relationship is at an end, you have no better love than that....It's not in my nature to make enemies."

On travel to other countries: "I think you can only appreciate other countries for the first time by being as quiet as possible and taking it in slowly."

On the pleasure of reading: "I love whodunits, because they’re always situations you never actually want to be in yourself. There's this voyeurism of seeing someone else in those situations from the comfort of your own armchair. My earliest memory is of my Dad reading Treasure Island to me and my elder brother. I remember discovering Winnie the Pooh as well — that's a book I've always stuck with. You find yourself relating to different characters in it as you approach different stages in your life. Reading is massively important, because it offers that escapism and freedom to work with your imagination. You can be transported anywhere — it's limitless. In the times we live in it's great to be able to do that." (In 2010, Stephen co-presented the "Summer Reads" series for Channel 4's TV Book Club — VIDEO Clip.)

Advice to young actors:

"Read loads of work by different playwrights and watch every style of film and TV acting. Don't decide too soon that you are a particular type of actor. And nail the art of comedy acting early, as comedy is what makes us unique as mammals."

"I remember seeing a David Attenborough documentary once, where he said we are the only animals capable of making each other laugh. That's a challenge for an actor. There are a myriad ways to find humour, and if you can crack that, then the rest doesn't seem quite so difficult. No matter how hard the situation, there's always a twinkle there."

"Read as many different playwrights as you can and get to know their work. Realise that being an actor isn't glamorous and you shouldn't do it if becoming famous is your reason."

"Radio acting is still my first love and it always will be. It is the closest you get to an author, and you really do appreciate a good script. And because the listener has to fill in the rest and no two people share the same visual imagination, you almost feel you are doing the play for just one listener. I still do as much radio drama or comedy as I can."

"It's always scary going on stage, but I think it's very important as an actor to go back and do it real. You can get very cosseted when you're filming. When there's no place to hide, just you and a live audience, it's much more exciting — and it makes sure all your mental faculties are working."

"A lot of been down to chance. As an actor, you don't really get to dictate over your own career, but if I had had control, I think I'd have taken exactly the same route again. I guess TV stuff is the most lucrative and when you’ve got a few of those under your belt you can go back to the theatre, which is more personal. Something you do for you — although it's kind of nonsensical putting yourself through that agony every night — because I do get so terribly nervous."

"I'd like to play Richard III one day. He's the ultimate villain. But I like to think that some of the great roles I'm going to play haven't been written yet!"

"Job satisfaction's very important and that only comes from a really good script. A good script lasts longer in people's memories than a multi-million-pound flop."

When asked if he ever takes time off: "Erm, no. I don't really believe in self-imposed unemployment...I never get tired of work. I'm living out my dream and doing what I always wanted to do."

"I got bitten by the bug by going to the cinema very early on with my brother. We'd go and see all the Bond films over and over again. It was just for the escapism. It's nice to be part of that world now."

"I think, had I not been lucky enough to fulfil my dream, I would have felt very frustrated with the world....It must be awful to live through regret."

"If the acting all ended for me tomorrow, I would probably go down the teaching route like my Mum."

"They only need to look at theatre sales to see that people paid more in the recession to go out and be entertained and have escapism....Maybe that will transfer to TV drama again, and we will use the brilliant writers we have got. There seems to be a huge attempt to grab the 18-to-late-20s market, which I have always thought is a bit odd. Because when you are in your teens to late 20s you don't want to be staying in watching TV, you want to be out interacting with each other. There is much more of a — not necessarily captive audience — but an audience that prefers staying in the older you get. And there are less things designed for them, which does not seem right to me."

"I've always preferred to support work that's done . I suppose you say that when you're not getting sent great film parts, but it's true....I feel established here and would simply like to keep progressing and earn respect. Alan Parker said that if he had set Fame in this country he would have had to change the title to 'Respected in Your Profession'. That's what I want to be: respected in my profession."