Top 70 Maxine Peake Quotes

I must admit I don’t usually buy a daily paper, although I will get one if there’s an interview I want to read.

I care about my work, but I don’t care about getting it wrong. The more you do, the more you realise nobody’s going to die.

When I graduated, I was my biggest ever: 15 stone, with a boyfriend – my first – of just 11 stone. I was 23 years old. It wasn’t just affecting my career: it was a health issue as well.

My favourite outfit is a giant bunny suit. I wore it in a music video for ‘Are You One?’ by the Chanteuse & the Crippled Claw and got to keep it.

As I’ve got older, I’ve got slightly more fussy. You’ve got less time; you need to use it wisely.

It’s interesting when people say, ‘You always play strong women,’ because as far as I’m concerned, women are strong. I think that’s what women are. We have got that vulnerability, but we have got that strength. We are survivors.

I’m a big comfort eater, so if I’m feeling sorry for myself, I’ll just stuff my face.

I’d rather go down with an almighty bang than play it safe.

At drama school, I was told, ‘Lay off the chips, or you’ll never play Juliet.’ Sometimes, in the stock room of the set of ‘Dinnerladies,’ I’d put away three or four Mars bars while waiting for a scene. Then, at 24, I lost five stone.

The ‘Bolton News’ is the best place for online comments. They say I’m an absolute idiot and a communist anarchist. I was never an anarchist; I was a communist!

Food is important in working out a character. How she eats is a window into her temperament. If I think she likes her food, I’ll put on a few pounds, or lose a few if she lives on her nerves.

I think, as a woman, you’ve got to make so many sacrifices.

We shouldn’t still be asking, ‘Have you got children? Why’ve you not got children? Ooh, you must have children!’ Bog off, d’you know what I mean?

When I was growing up, because I was a bit overweight and boyish, I thought I wasn’t attractive to the opposite sex, but I have since met lads from my school who said I just seemed unapproachable.

Generally, I am losing faith in telly, as we do have good dramas but not as many as there should be.

I love ‘Splash!’ and ‘Take Me Out.’ Not that I’d ever do ‘Splash!’ It’s the parading on British TV in a swimming costume I couldn’t handle.

I went to Salford Tech. They did a two-year performing arts course. I went there singing and dancing – I had a terrible time. I turned up in green dungarees and German power boots. I was into prog rock at the time – Gong and Hawkwind – and I was clumping around.

Cooking, you can keep. I’ve not the slightest interest in it.

I remember when New Labour got in. I was at Salford Tech studying drama, and everyone was jumping up and down, and I was so upset, I went to a phone box and called my granddad.

I actually used to compete at show-jumping when I was a young’un.

You want to go to your deathbed saying, ‘I didn’t sell out.’ But it’s a tough business to keep to what you believe in and get through and do well.

It’s great having time to just sit back and work through things in my mind. It helps put life into perspective.

Sometimes it feels like the feminist movement never happened.

I think an actor’s process should be very personal and private, and sometimes I have thought, ‘Oh, please, put it away now.’

There aren’t that many great female roles in Shakespeare – none that I’d be desperate to play.

I do, in a strange way, care deeply what people think.

I left the North when I was 21 to go to drama school in London, and I stayed there 12 years.

The first posh meal out I had was on my 10th birthday.

I know I sometimes come across as being quite dismissive about acting. But I’m not. It’s like people reading their diaries in public. I don’t want to talk about how I create characters. I find it self-indulgent.

Crying does not equal good acting.

I love hoovering. People go to therapists; I’ve got a Hoover.

I get easily distracted and become a bit of a giddy giggler. I’m not good at taking myself seriously, and laughing at myself helps ease the pressure.

After my mum and dad got divorced, I was entitled to free school dinners, but my mum said, ‘Under no circumstances,’ because she was proud.

Every job still feels like the first time.

As a human, if you’re in a scary situation, you pretty much forget about everything else! You just try and survive.

Sometimes the darker the work, the more fun you can have.

I think people expect me to dress a bit like Veronica from ‘Shameless,’ in vest tops and denim skirts.

I have recurring dreams about losing my temper, which become quite violent. I dread to think what that says about me.

I don’t really engage with that world of technology, which might be to my detriment.

I wasn’t an obvious actress in any sense of the word.

If I were to appear in a programme like ‘Sex and the City,’ I’m sure I’d be cast as the downtrodden one staying at home and having seven children while the others jet-setted around the world.

I’m always an advocate of ‘acting is reacting,’ which can be difficult.

People think I’m clever, which is hilarious. I’m like, ‘When did this happen? People used to think I couldn’t string a sentence together.’

I get very irate with actors when they talk about how distressing it all is. I mean, it’s only acting. Please.

I look up to the older generation of men – Arthur Scargill, Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn – but my main role model has been my step-granddad Jim. He’s brilliant, very political, quite eccentric.

We need a wider sense of community because we’re all on the same planet.

I’m very independent, probably quite selfish, and like being able to disappear at the drop of a hat without having to explain myself – most men would find that a pain, wouldn’t they?

I’m unusual in that I’ve worked more as I’ve got older.

‘Toast of London’ is a must-watch. Matt Berry’s off-the-wall humour is slightly surreal and a little bit deviant. That’s why I also love ‘House of Fools.’

When I was a little girl, there was this unbelievably cool female bus driver who’d work near us. I remember thinking I’d like to be her when I grew up.

When we were doing ‘Criminal Justice,’ they were filming ‘Clash of the Titans’ nearby and we kept nicking off to their catering tent and going, ‘Look what they’ve got!’

I watch ‘Take Me Out’ mainly for Paddy McGuinness. When we were younger, we worked together as lifeguards at the Bolton Leisure Centre.

I get angry about the way women are forced and bullied into what the male ideal is.

We still have an underclass in this country who are constantly ignored and vilified.

I’ve always had pop-star crushes. I had a huge crush on Ian Brown.

When I’m not acting, I don’t feel like an actor.

What’s wrong with wanting the best for everybody?

Everybody’s in a situation; everybody has a story. It’s about finding out why.

Pay in the acting world hasn’t kept up with inflation.

I reckoned my accent and class would count against me; I didn’t see actresses as being working-class.

I used to think the store detective had followed me all the way home and would knock on the door and go, ‘Hello, is this your daughter? She’s got three blue lipsticks and a moisturiser from Boots in her bag.’ We just used to nick crap. Not even stuff we wanted.

I went to the Old Bailey, and I met a judge, and I was petrified, but they were like, ‘Oh, you’re an actor, well, great.’ It was a bit like we’re cut from the same cloth a little bit.

I think all things are political… How women are portrayed – that’s a big thing for me. What is this role trying to say about women? Is this woman weak or victimised, and, if so, do we get to understand why?

I’ve always fancied being a bit of warrior, on a horse swinging a sword around, sorting out the men… Oh yes, that sounds lovely.

For me, politics is about passion. It doesn’t matter what you know; it’s your actions that count. I meet people who say they’re socialists, and that’s not what they carry out in their everyday life.

Often, when I am playing difficult roles, I have a problem sleeping because I can’t leave the character behind.

I take bits and pieces from everything. But I think the Method can be very isolating, and sometimes it’s more about ego than playing the character truthfully.

The films, the music, the telly that I like is always a little bit more on the margins.

My kind of work is very intense. The trouble with me is that I completely fling myself into it. I get giddy. I get terrible crushes on jobs.

Music is a huge inspiration to my style. I first got into it when I was 10: the new wave mod scene.