The thing is, I was always a republican, but I have to say I've become completely obsessed with the Queen.
Josh O'Connor
I grew up in a family that felt indifferent towards the royal family.
Being in 'The Crown' and being recognised in the street is weird for me.
I have no memory of feeling strong and rugged at any point. I've been considering masculinity my whole life.
I have so much respect for the Queen and for Charles, and what the family represents. And yet there's still a conflict about whether we can abolish the class system while also having a Royal family.
Well, we lived in Newbury first, until I was five. Then we went to Cheltenham, which is lovely, a really sweet town. We lived surrounded by hills. It was the best place to grow up.
I am thrilled to be joining The Firm for the next installment of 'The Crown'.
If Leonardo DiCaprio calls, I'll hang out with him, sure.
I've got two brothers. One's older - the artist - and then my younger brother is an ecological economist - a farmer.
My dad's an English teacher and my mum's a midwife. Then my mum's side of the family are all crazy creative.
Our leaders are archaic masculine figures in so far as they are aggressively old-fashioned in their masculinity, people like Trump, potentially Boris Johnson.
I don't think anyone is purely evil or purely brilliant, certainly for Prince Charles.
I must say, I wouldn't turn down a superhero role, although there do seem to be a lot of British actors out there doing that.
When I left drama school I was prepped to be in shows and tour around England by van.
I had one lesson with Devil's Horsemen, who do a lot of the horse-riding stuff for films. They train actors to look reasonable on horses. They do 'Game of Thrones', everything.
All of a sudden we were going on school trips, seeing these amazing plays by the likes of Samuel Beckett. My whole world went from 'This is really fun' to 'This is fascinating to me'.
Ultimately, I want a career where I get to try as many things out as I can.
When I left school, all I wanted was to buy a van.
I love theater and I really wanted to do more theater.
All good art should be political, I think, and inevitably it all becomes political really, in one way or another.
I mean, I knew of Jane Austen's work, and I guess I'm a fan at a distance insofar as from a literary point of view, it's beautifully written.
I think I'm generally quite good at being able to put things in the past and let them go, as it were.
I went from silent films to watching French new wave cinema. I became entrapped by it all. That's when I knew I wanted to do film. The moment you start looking at film from a critique point of view - there's a difference between watching a film as an audience and with a critical point of view.
I remember thinking this is everything that England means to me. The huge, flat landscapes with deep reds and greens. Daunting and terrifying and incredible. We should see it more on film, I think.
Y'know, even in a lot of heterosexual cinema it's always kind of miserable. Love doesn't work and then, if it does work, it's suddenly a rom-com.
I knew a bit about 'Emma' through the book when I was younger, but actually more from 'Clueless'.
As an actor, I always have this thing where I can't plan ahead for holidays or a break because I don't know when I might be needed for the next job.
I work in an industry in which we're all quite vulnerable, I think, to mental health.
But I loved 'Clueless'. I still think 'Clueless' is a great movie.
My problem is that I love talking to people. I remember working in a call centre in Dalston and I'd end up having these long chats with old women.
There is something about being in a remote town where anything other than green fields, trees and Saturday football club is very exciting and thrilling.
You have to stop yourself midway through a scene and be like, 'I'm acting with Olivia Colman!'
Regardless of the size of the budget or the name of the director, if the story is really interesting, then I can get on board with it. If it's not, then they're not gonna cast me anyway, because I'll just give a terrible audition.
We're living at a time when people are questioning what it means to be male in modern society, and I'm finding it very helpful to explore it through these roles.
Fame isn't something I signed up for, it's just a by-product of what I wanted to do.
I remember not wanting to play football because I didn't want to get my hair wet.
I think Jane Austen is like Shakespeare, in a slightly different way. I think people will continue to revisit these stories because they remain relevant, regardless of how you do them.
I wanted to be an artist; it was be an artist or be an actor.
I've never farmed before. It's unforgiving, it's hard work, hard graft - but I loved it, and I loved everyone I met who guided me along the way.
Yeah, I guess for years I wanted to be an artist, and when I was growing up, lots of my family were artists, so I was kind of surrounded by that world. Then acting came along, and I loved it immediately.
The historical kings of England are all strong soldiers and leaders, but can you be a sensitive leader? It's the same in politics, we talk about how proud we are to have had two women prime ministers, but would we be less ready for a sensitive prime minister?
This crew member has managed to get this picture of me to the Queen who'd said that she loved me in 'The Durrells'! The real life Queen!
Royals are always very clear about where they're moving, because they've been told by protection officers exactly what they're doing.
There's this assumption that every British actor, they can ride horses. Definitely not!
My parents probably were delighted when I chose acting, because if there is one job in the world that is less financially reliable than acting, it is art.
Richard II is my dream part.
