Tell us what you're really thinking – we find out what makes these cult figures tick

Famke Janssen is an actress, known for her roles in the Netflix-first thriller Hemlock Grove, X-Men, Taken and Nip/tuck. She has just made her writing and directorial debut, with the film Bringing up Bobby, starring Milla Jovovich and available on DVD now. She lives in New York with her Boston Terrier, Licorice.

The biggest obstacle in my working life is flying. I know that sounds precious, but imagine getting a long-haul flight twice a week and not for fun, for work. I generally fly economy as it’s so prohibitively expensive to fly first class that I can’t justify it. The queues, the frazzled tempers, being penned in unable to walk around; I would love to be able to travel everywhere by train instead. There’s a romance in watching the changing landscape.

Living together can make you like roommates or siblings. I see people get married, think ‘so, I’ve ticked that box’ and then moving on to their careers. But a relationship is like a plant, it needs water, air, nurturing. My boyfriend lives in L.A., a five hour flight away, and even though there are times when I curse that, we focus entirely on each other when we are in the same city.

The book that I come back to again and again is Anna Karenina. The vivid descriptions of Russia, the compelling development of their relationship; tragedy at its finest. Tragedy and humour can live in the same postcode though, and should, if possible. I’ve never been to a funeral where people don’t end up laughing, or a wedding where people don’t cry.

My biggest weakness is caffeine and chocolate. A macchiato and a bar of dark chocolate with sea salt and Aztec chilli = exquisite. 

Martin Luther King is my hero. He did the most beautiful possible thing a person can do with their lives. I also can’t abide bureaucratic ‘computer says no’ people. Rather than defaulting to ‘no’, at least say, ‘let me try.’ Other than racism, if you don’t want to see my dark side, don’t be mean to my dog.