There’s something important, as an actor, about allowing yourself to be approached by people to do roles. People see different things in you. – Damian Lewis
I investigated post-traumatic stress disorder. I’ve been to a unit where people are suffering from it, and I read a lot of literature. I looked at footage of soldiers in the combat zone. I found ‘Restrepo’ to be unbelievably useful. – Damian Lewis
It’s an unfair comparison because when things are developed in the UK, they’re developed at script stage only. – Damian Lewis
In England we burnt redheads at the stake, because we thought they were witches. There are still young redheads in Britain getting ripped for having red hair. ‘Oy, Ginger!’ – Damian Lewis
I’m one of those idiots; when I’m working in America, I wake up with an American accent and stay with it all day till make-up comes off. – Damian Lewis
It’s successful, middle-class Arab men and women, professionals with seemingly happy family lives, who are prepared to go to paradise for a greater cause. That’s terrifying. – Damian Lewis
None of us, remember, knew that 9/11 was gonna happen. We didn’t live in a state of anxiety and fear about Osama Bin Laden. The CIA might have, and they failed to prevent it. But the general public didn’t have any knowledge. Now we have knowledge of it, and it’s a very clear and present danger in our lives. – Damian Lewis
I think you can’t be really posh and be an interesting actor. I’m a bit of a posh rough. – Damian Lewis
Writing and directing might be a red herring, and really I’m just re-examining what it is to act, to do it well and do it properly. – Damian Lewis
’24’ had to withstand accusations of being right-wing, but ‘Homeland’ is a far more liberal show. – Damian Lewis
There are ways of avoiding becoming tabloid fodder and therefore giving people license to pry into your private life. And there’s a distinction between being an actor and being a celebrity. You may become a celebrity through acting, but you don’t need to do so. – Damian Lewis
Acting can be a narrow and isolated experience, because you only examine your particular part. – Damian Lewis
I’m not an American, but I have this weird connection to America in different ways through my dad living here for five years, my godfather being an American who I’m very close to. – Damian Lewis
A lot of these American actors have this – in my view – misplaced view that they have to look like Action Man. The trouble is, they all run the risk of being interchangeable. – Damian Lewis
I didn’t know ‘Homeland’ was going to be ‘Homeland.’ I just did it because it was a terrific script, and they pitched me the story line, and I was like, ‘Huh, that’s interesting.’ – Damian Lewis
I remember, when I was doing ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, James Archer came to see me at the interval and said, ‘My father would like to see you after the show.’ It felt rather as if I had been summoned by the Queen, and I was cocky enough to think, ‘Who the hell is he to summon me?’ – Damian Lewis
Quiet people, people who aren’t given to emotional outbursts, people who are economic with words – they’re also fun to play, but you find yourself needing a laser precision in those roles. Otherwise you just sort of stand around, looking slightly brain-dead. You worry about being uninteresting. – Damian Lewis
L.A. still ranks as one of my guilty pleasures, along with butter-pecan ice cream and Coldplay albums. – Damian Lewis
