Emily Berrington Quotations

Little girls as children, I think, are expected to behave better. If a boy's naughty at school, he's a little bit cheeky and mischievous. If a girl's naughty, she's trouble.

Auditioning for something you already know and love is terrifying.

I never thought I'd end up doing comedy, but actually, it's been something I've really relished the challenge of and ended up doing quite a bit of.

I always thought that at the very time of your life when you want to be cool and sexy and fascinating, you are none of those things. You are a hormonal muddle in your school uniform sitting in double science looking at a boy who you know will never notice you. That was definitely me; I was so shy at school.

I did a geography degree, and if you told me whilst I was ignoring my geography degree revision in order to watch another episode of '24' that one day I wouldn't need that geography degree and I'd actually be in '24,' I'd have been quite pleased, I think.

I had a brilliant trip to Mexico with my friend Ellie during my gap year. We thought we were being really cool and going off the beaten track while all our friends went to Thailand and Australia. The first beachside bar we walked into - there were two girls from my sixth form in there.

I really enjoy working with people who have come into this industry for what I think are really admirable reasons. People who really want to tell brilliant stories and do it in the most effective way possible.

I was really into '24' at university, and it resulted in a lot of lost hours that could have been spent at the library. If you could have told me then I would be in it one day, I'd have hit the roof.

I will be very sad if I ever get to the point where I think, 'Oh no, another dress from Armani.' I want to be still screaming my head off when it arrives.

My first role was an angel in the nursery nativity. I spotted my mum halfway through and shouted over someone else's lines to ask if she liked my costume. I've learnt not to do that now.

Politics is terrifying, very masculine, and not particularly encouraging to young blonde women - as a career, that is - and it was only when I was working in parliament that I thought to myself, 'Well, this is a tough industry; can an acting career be any more intimidating?' and I applied to drama school.

When I was little, I was actually really shy. I really enjoyed doing school plays, but I found the whole thing terrifying. I cried myself to sleep once because I thought my teacher was going to give me the lead role. I never imagined acting was a viable career.

You imagine that, going into such a huge American series, you will come up against a lot of egos, but it was the complete opposite on '24,' a dream team.