Tom Hickey: "I always saw it, I suppose - the word is never uttered nowadays - as a vocation. I think it's very important for any actor to see it that way . . . in this country, where most of the population are play-actors, writers, chancers, there's a lot of play, and it's bound to yield up - acting schools or not - players."
Neilí Conroy
"I think there was always a fear to admit that I wanted to act because I had a little brother doing so well and my father was in the business and my uncle, so there's always that fear that you'll fail. But when I did Family, that was a great success. I realised then I loved acting. So I kept at it Still trying."
Phelim Drew
"I just never really wanted to entertain the idea of working a nine to five existence. I enjoyed the idea of living a life whereby one is not pinned down for very long. If you're not particularly getting a huge amount from one job that it's not going to go on forever. There'll be a turnaround, and always new experiences and meeting new people."
Brendan Conroy
"Going to see amateur drama, as a young kid outside Tuam, it seemed to me that there was some dimension to the actors of magic or freedom. That kind of hooked me a little bit. The other idea was that maybe one wanted to live more than one life - to live a few more lives."