I’m not a natural comedian but I try. Bridesmaids was like a breath of fresh air for me as I’d longed to do comedy for a while. I think we all harbour secret ambitions and that was mine – I’d always been limited to being seen as a serious actor. Thankfully, it worked out.

Being Australian is a huge part of my identity. Like most Aussies, I’m an intrepid traveller – being so far away, I think we’re naturally very curious. It makes me sad that fewer people are travelling to Europe because of the economic climate. In my teenage years the Walkabout pubs were booming. They were quite defining of the 90s, and now they’re disappearing.

My first night in New York was one of the most magical nights I’ve lived. I went with my family when I was 18 – my father won a big bet at the races and took us there on impulse, so we stayed uptown at the Mark and it was snowing. It was Christmas Eve and we went to a beautiful pizzeria on Park Avenue where Frank Sinatra music was playing.

I was worried I was going to meet Glenn Close and feel intimidated. Thankfully on the first day of shooting Damages she proved to be ever the joker, blowing up a big picture of Brad Pitt in my dressing room for me. We worked together on Troy, and had shared a naked scene.

I envy confident people. It’s in my nature to be a wallflower – I absolutely hate the idea of arrogance. But I’ve found sometimes having your feet too firmly on the ground can be to your detriment.

Living in New York is lonely and inspiring, fatiguing and enriching. It’s not for everyone, but that’s the nature of the city.

My greatest fear is not being able to say everything I want to say to somebody. But I’m learning to change that.

As a rule, I’m not fantastic with money. As an actor, you go through periods of big jobs and then downtime, so you have to manage things and it depends on your temperament. But I have made one good investment – a house in Hackney. I bought it with my sister 10 years ago and we’ve done well out of it.

I’ve spent much of my life wanting to be Kylie. My dad took me to five of her concerts by the time I was 11, and a few years ago I did a sixth. I find it incredible how she went from being in Neighbours to this huge pop star, from being completely slated by the Australian press to becoming their darling. And she’s a breast cancer survivor, too. To have gone through that and had the courage to talk about it openly is commendable.

My earliest memory is of watching my mum put her hair in a ponytail and being very upset by it. I’m sure there’s some sort of psychological explanation, but to me it felt like I didn’t recognise her and I was being abandoned.

I rarely play characters who are like me. Helen in Bridesmaids was so highly strung, so controlling, I couldn’t possibly relate. Although, of course, I know people like that.

Rose Byrne won this year’s Maxmara Women in Film Face of the Future prize (maxmara.com)