My films like Lion are socially and politicallly committed and I wanted to confront the social reality in France of living in a banlieue. I decided to start working in roles using different languages and I found that by working internationally I was able to get better roles when I came back to France.

I worked with Kate Winslett on "Marrakech Express" in Marrakech and she had completed 45 films so it was a great experience for me and it went very well and I was delighted to be acting in my parent's city. It showed what I could achieve as an actor especially when they found I could speak English. Luck is always a factor for actors however hard they may work, cinema is not an exact science.

I would like to be a director but actors often don't have time as they are working on different roles with different cultures and languages. We are absorbed by our roles in films. It is crucial to be interested in making films, it's a bit like looking for a wife, you will find her eventually! So I am thinking about being a director one day. It's like a couple, two people meeting for the first time. They have a mutual interest in each other and like each other, perhaps occasionally telling each other white lies. Conviction and relationships are very important for the director who has to envisage the film in its totality. He has to find himself in the film and find truth and artistic value and mystery. The choice between the director's vision of the film and what the camera sees depends to some extent on culture, the more you travel the more you learn.

I acted in a film set in Jerusalem because I feel a duty to the Arab cause and can sympathise with this as a son of the banlieu in Paris. There are many complex issues of choice and instinct and culture. Their choice of film is defined by meeting people, authors, actors and so on and building a relationship. It is very much like choosing the woman who ytou are going to love for the rest of your life. I have to be honest with myself because the film is there for ever and I will be judged on it. You have to be willing to take risks and a lot depends on self-confidence and you have to follow your instincts.

The ingredients of an actor's success are like making a salad with mayonnaise, eggs and olive oil and then dipping frits in the mayonnaise! We don't decide on an actor's success, many hard working actors never achieve real success and they work harder than I do! I really don't know what the real ingredients of success in acting are.

There may be limits on what you can accept in an acting role. It is part of your responsibility as an artist, you also need to be aware of the problems and conflicts in the world. Art mirrors and reflects society and is what makes us cry or laugh. Someone also described it as to "make one aware of man's grandeur". We have to remember how man can be crazy, we forget and make the same mistakes like going to war and I believe art is here to remind us of such mistakes, and to correct them. I don't want to take on a role I am not convinced about. We need to be able to convince others that we may be wrong and that is the art of democracy. Audiences identify with your work and this is important, the film Hate is a special example where French people came to identify with the film and change their opinion on society..

I have refused to do advertising endorsements out of self respect, but I have supported a campaign in Morocco on road safty following the tragic death of a friend. I did not ask for payment for this.

For the future I want to find a wife and have children as I have not had time and love and building realtionships take time , so this is my next project, I will not stop acting entirely but I need sometime for myself as I have sacrificed my personal life for my career so far.