Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood.
Yet now based in the UK, after marrying Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, she says she doesn't miss the Hollywood lifestyle - and wonders why people are so confused by her decision to move here.
"The UK is so self-deprecating," she says. "They ask, 'Why would you want to live here? Well, my husband is here. I think the people are agreeable. I like the friends I have. And life here is not as hectic as New York or as vapid as Los Angeles."
Of course some things have changed for her. "My beer's not as cold as it used to be for a start. And I eat curry all the time. And I never thought I'd be sitting at home enjoying repeats of The Two Ronnies!"In many respects she shares a great deal in common with that other convert to the British way of life Madonna - Paltrow even went to the music star's wedding to film director Guy Ritchie in Scotland.
But unlike Ritchie, who has gone on record to say he doesn't like his wife's music, Paltrow is full of praise for her husband's work.
"I listen to Colplay," she asserts. "And my daughter is obsessed with Coldplay but she can't stop listening Madonna's Hung Up at the moment."
Clearly a family-orientated person, the star of Shakespeare in Love says she has calmed her working schedule since having daughter Apple in 2004.
But that hasn't stopped putting in a career best performance in her latest big screen outing, Proof.
Adapted from the play by David Auburn, Paltrow first took on the role at the Donmar Warehouse in 2002 - and gained rave reviews playing Catherine, the daughter of a mentally-ill maths genius who fears she may have inherited more than his talent for numbers.
Despite a strong cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Paltrow gives a powerfully raw performance and admits giving her feelings free reign on set made for an emotionally exhausting shoot.
"I was completely drained every day," she says. "When I was doing the play, I was using up all of my resources but that was a two-hour period and then it was finished. What I found so difficult about the film is that we would be doing a really emotional scene all day. It was hard to be in that state for hours and hours at a time.
"Of course, it didn't help that it was the first anniversary of my father's death," she adds. "And I was newly pregnant so I felt really sick."
With such a jumble of emotions going on inside Paltrow's head, sharing the screen with a screen legend like Anthony Hopkins, who plays Catherine's father, must have been a daunting experience?
"Probably in any other circumstances I would have felt more trepidation," she says. "But because I had done the play and I was so prepared I felt I knew what I was doing. I was just excited about it.
"I admire Anthony so much. He has so much power as an actor and he's a lovely guy. We had a great chemistry together. I definitely think it raises the game any time you work with someone who is better than you. I felt very lucky to work with him."
Born in 1972 to parents both in the film business - director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner - Paltrow says she was never in any doubt that she wanted to be an actress.
"I always wanted to be an actor from the time I knew what it was. But my parents were gently discouraging, they wanted me to do something more academic or more noble.
"But my father said that he never remembered a time when I didn't want to be an actor. It's funny because in some families there are children who are absolutely disinterested in what their parents do and then there are some that really connect with it. In my mind there was never any doubt that I was going to do it."
The theme of inheritance from one generation to the next is a key theme of Proof - as is the bond between father and daughter. So did she spot any similarities between her screen relationship and the one she shared with her late father?
"I think the only way in which it compares is that my father and I understood each other very well. We were similar creatures, and Catherine and her father are similar creatures. There's a lot of love between them, and it's the same with me and my father. But the similarities end there!"
And despite her rollercoaster ride on Proof, Paltrow says it was one of the best experiences of her career.
"It was exhilarating. I had spent such a long time being in the character's skin that I got to understand her experience in a lot of ways. I felt very blessed to be able to do the part in two different mediums. It made me feel that I never rehearse anything enough when I do a film. How can I ever do a film again now without doing a play of it first?
Source: Various
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