“I thought I was clever by greeting casting agents in my Australian acc...” — Jonathan LaPaglia Quote

I thought I was clever by greeting casting agents in my Australian accent and then switching to an American one during the performance. But the Australian accent seemed to put them off. Now it's the opposite; they love Australians. And with my thick Californian accent I now have a problem convincing them I'm Australian.

In primary school I was terrible. I don't think I was particularly well behaved in high school, but I started to apply myself.

I just couldn't imagine hitting a child. But in 'The Slap' it's an extreme situation. You have to ask yourself - would you step in if a child was out of control?

As an actor, you want new challenges. U.S. TV can be very formulaic. So when something gets a reaction, as 'The Slap' has, that's great. The sense I get is that it's not about me or my performance. More than anything it's the subject matter that people are focused on.'

I find people interesting and I love regional accents. I love the Norfolk accent actually but I haven't heard much as I've only just arrived but I shall go out and find it.

I am a young woman, with a regional accent, from a working class family, who has had a pretty standard education. So far, so ordinary. But in the places I've worked, one or more of these things would put me in the minority.

I did use my own accent in a play once. It's a very freeing, liberating experience. Actors are often asked to adopt a different accent, and sometimes a different voice, so when that's taken away and you don't have to think about it, that's a lovely thing.

I don't know Bengali perfectly. I don't know how to write it or even read it. I have an accent, I speak without authority, and so I've always perceived a disjunction between it and me. As a result, I consider my mother tongue, paradoxically, a foreign language.