Richard Madden thinks of himself as an "interpreter".
Richard Madden
The 32-year-old star - who has appeared in 'Game of Thrones' and the Disney movie 'Cinderella' - has admitted he predominantly considers acting to be an exercise in interpretation.
He explained: "A great director can bring out lots in an actor's performance. I consider myself an interpreter and the director is also an interpreter of the writer's story.
"So really we're all interpreters coming together with our own visions and trying to combine them into a rounded piece."
Richard hasn't prepared in exactly the same way for any of the roles he's accepted during his career.
He told the Guardian newspaper: "Nothing about what I do seems to have a consistency. I don't prepare the same for any role.
"But I'm always excited to work with a new director to see what kind of challenges they can bring to the project and what performance they can draw out of my interpretation."
Despite establishing himself as a TV and film star, Richard loves working in theatre productions.
The actor revealed he is keen to do more theatre work in the future, although it's not something he's focused on in the short term.
Reflecting on his passion for the theatre and his future career ambitions, the actor said: "I would like to do more plays in the future.
"I prefer to do theatre in smaller spaces. I love the Donmar, upstairs at the Royal Court, and the Bush Theatre, for example. And I'd love to go back to the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow where I first did theatre many years ago.
"But right now I'm really enjoying acting for camera and working out how to do it better."
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