If my mum thinks I'm acting like a diva she'll soon tell me off... She'll cut me down to size!
My parents took me to the Bronte parsonage in England when I was a teenager. I had a fight with my mum, burst into tears, jumped over a stile and ran out into the moors. It felt very authentic: A moor really is an excellent place to have a temper tantrum.
I think I'm far too hopeful and trusting. That's something I got from my mum.
My dad is Greek and my mum Jamaican. My grandparents brought me up for most of my childhood, but I saw my mum and dad all the time.
I'm very nurturing. I come from a large family, and my parents were loving. But the most important thing for me as a mum is to keep my word. When I say no, I mean no.
My mum has always been a huge inspiration for me and my work. She loves fashion and has always been so supportive.
I'd heard Joyce Grenfell on the radio, and when Mum gave me a book of her comic routines, I just loved it. Me and my sister shared a bedroom, and every night I'd drive her mad with my version of 'George, Don't Do That' about people we knew at school.
My father was a general manager with Hyatt, so we lived in the hotel so he would be close by if there were any problems. My mum was always adamant about us not abusing it. So I still had to clean my room. Housekeeping would never come and do it.
I get on all right with my parents. But I don't see them very much. They split up when I was eight. I stayed with my mum, but I felt it was a bit soft with her. I could do whatever I liked, and I wasn't getting nowhere, so I went to stay with my dad.
My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that's a good grounding for a balanced life.
When I look back, I am happy that my mum took me to the gymnastics club. I didn't join gymnastics to become a famous athlete or celebrity; it just happened - I did more than I expected, of course.
I read a lot of research notes about the countries I visit, and my mum and dad bought me a Kindle, but I'm still getting to grips with it. I prefer paper books.
My mother was a free-spirited clinical therapist, and I had the most hard-working father, a television lighting director by trade. My mum raised me to be a global citizen, with eyes open to sometimes harsh realities.
My mum sent me to an open audition for 'Notes On A Scandal' so I could see quite how many other girls wanted to do this. And I queued up, and I got the job. That was my first-ever audition, and my second was 'Atonement.'
I don't know much about only children. I was the middle one of three, and if ever I was alone with mum and dad, it was a rare moment.
Me and my mum didn't see eye-to-eye for a lot of years, and I've never really felt connected with my dad, because he wasn't there.
Growing up, we didn't have anything. My mum wasn't well, so I was in three care homes then foster homes before me and my little brother went back to her. I was passed from pillar to post.
I grew up on a council estate in south London; my dad was a bus driver and my mum sewed clothes to bring in extra money. My parents worked hard and were able to save up and buy a home for our family.
My mum sent me to ballet from the age of five, not because I was that into it but because I had really knock knees.
I can still remember my mum (a voracious, if not discriminating, reader - I have seen everything from the sublime to the ridiculous by her bed, from Ian Rankin and Elmore Leonard to Barbara Cartland and James Patterson) taking me to get my library card when I was four and not yet at school.
I don't think of myself as an actress. I still think I'm fannying around in my mum's front room.
I do most of my shopping over the Internet because as a busy working mum I can do the supermarket shop when the kids have gone to bed.
I had a complicated life until I was 25. I was born in Bristol and was brought up by my mum and my stepfather in Edinburgh. He introduced me to books.
I'm not an interior designer - I'm a normal working mum who wants her house to look good and doesn't need a man to do it for her.
I love samosas filled with mincemeat. My mum makes really great ones.
My mum was a librarian, and my dad worked in Greenland.
I think the first album I bought was The Jackson Five, but the first CD I was given was 'Cotton-Eyed Joe,' the single! Bless my mum - don't know what she was thinkin'!
My family was never cultural in that we never went to see plays, my mum wasn't very into films.
I look fine. I've had no surgery apart from an operation I had decades ago to remove the fat under my eyes. My mum looked 30 when she was 60, so I guess I owe it all to genes and hair dye.
I had to try to understand how much of a taboo it was. My mum worked in ballet and theatre when she was younger, and I had been brought up around lots of gay people, so I had never had any issue and couldn't imagine how hard it was to be out.
My mum taught me a lot about fashion in terms of knowing what looks good on you and developing my own sense of style. Even when we were shooting the Sunglass Hut campaign, we went through racks of clothing together, and ultimately I decided on a short, more fitted peplum dress, while Mum opted for a sexy blazer and black leggings.
My mum and I are, in many ways, quite similar. We're both creative, gregarious, and energetic.
My mum lives in Boston; she's famous for teaching wushu and t'ai chi. So from when I was young, my mum and aunt were like: 'You're training; you're not playing baseball or football.' Training every day was normal. Later, when I was almost a teenager, Bruce Lee became my idol.
My mum used Avon Skin So Soft oil when I was younger. She would have a bath, and then the smell used to fill the whole house.
I think birth and motherhood are not things that you're trained to do. You might have a good example in your own mum, but nobody teaches you how to be a really great mum.
Both Mum and Dad were converts to Catholicism, and normally if you convert to Catholicism you have thought about it more than someone who just grew up with it, taking it for granted.
