जीवनी

In 2010 was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. In 2013 was diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome.

His Bafta victories and nominations came only from films he directed rather than for his acting roles. He won the award as Best Film Debut for Tyrannosaur (2011) and Best Short Film for Dog Altogether (2007).

Worked as a photographer before turning to acting full-time.

His father died from cancer one week before filming began for In America (2002).

Has collaborated with Olivia Colman in five films. Three of these he appeared alongside her in such as Hot Fuzz (2007), Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009) and The Murder in Angel Lane (2013) with him directing her in Dog Altogether (2007) and Tyrannosaur (2011).

It's all about cutting your teeth. I would hate to be thrust into the middle of a big film and not deliver. There's young actors and they're put into these central roles and they're commanding armies - but they can't quite pull it off. I'd much rather do it in small steps and build it from there. But at least now, for me, when they're casting movies in America, the big question is, "Can he do an American accent?" Well, that's answered now. He can do one, he can do a Thirties New Yorker.

Actors are all different, we've all got different motors.

[on Tyrannosaur (2011)] People put on different masks. They put on a different face to the world in order to cope. It's a strange manipulation. They are out there and they are ignored because the circumstances that created them are ignored.

We have to accept the hurt and the misery as real. It's all around us, and you can be watching the evening news one night, telling you about a lady who was beaten to death, and then they try to cheer you up at the end with the shot of a dog on a surfboard. I find this offensive.

I worry. I worry we're losing our humanity. That's why I feel a need to explore these people. There has to be some sort of redemption, some resolution. I have to believe that. Otherwise life is just a series of bad events.