Here's a nother nice article about AMD, where she dispels some, what she calls "myths".

From The Sunday Times
April 26, 2009
Anne-Marie Duff: our kind of girl
She may be one half of Britain's top thespian couples, but she forgoes celebrity parties in favour of dancing in the kitchen and love-ins at home with James McAvoy (lucky her)

Tell people that you are interviewing Anne-Marie Duff and they invariably say: "Isn't she the one who is married to James McAvoy, drives a Nissan Micra and lives in a one-bed flat?" That story started life as tabloid gossip, but it seems to have stuck, and has now become urban myth. It's appealing to think that McAvoy, a Golden Globe-nominated star, and Duff, one of Britain's leading character actresses, should be living so humbly.

When I ask Duff about this, she lets out a loud peal of laughter. "I haven't driven a Nissan Micra for such a long time," she says. "It was useful, though, because people were looking for the wrong car. And, actually, I don't live in a flat."

True or not, the story does reveal a down-to-earth, non-starry quality about the couple. Yes, they went to the Oscars when his film, Atonement, received seven nominations, but otherwise, one of Britain's leading thespian power couples doesn't live a particularly glamorous lifestyle. Duff says she likes to go camping, for goodness' sake, and avoids celebrity parties. "Yes, we go to award ceremonies and they are really fun, but I go to parties with people I know," she says. "Why would I stand in a room full of strangers trying to market myself? The idea is hellish, it would be like a busman's holiday."

The thing about Duff is that, although the 38-year-old has notched up rave reviews for the sort of performances that seem to be leading straight to damehood (Elizabeth I on ITV, an award-winning Saint Joan at the National, Fiona in the hit sitcom Shameless), many people still haven't heard of her. That looks likely to change with her latest film, Is Anybody There?, with Michael Caine, and a host of other high-profile projects. Does she feel her career is now taking off? "I've always felt happy as long as I can keep working and doing interesting things. If you are hot, it must be really terrifying. What happens next? You get a bit lukewarm?"

It's a typically grounded response. Duff is clever, open and thinks carefully about every question you ask her. Except, that is, when you mention anything about McAvoy. What's it like, living a relationship in the public eye, I venture. "I deal with it by not assuming it's a relationship in the public eye. You just have to be a married couple."

What does that mean to you? "It means respecting the other person, and allowing them to be. We've all been in relationships where we've been diminished, or perhaps diminished the other person, but that is never going to work. You have to relish the other person. Monogamy is a challenge," she says. Is it ever a worry when McAvoy, eight and a half years her junior, goes off to work with the likes of Angelina Jolie? "You have to trust each other. I've kissed plenty of handsome fellas in my work, too," she shoots back indignantly. Like who? "Well, Michael Caine, for one."

Working with Caine was one of the reasons she was attracted to Is Anybody There?, a tender, coming-of-age story set in an old people's home. "It's a sweet wee film," she beams, which it is, with a typically luminous portrayal by Duff. In it, she plays a harassed mum trying to run an old people's home, deal with a son obsessed with ghosts and cope with a husband (played by David Morrissey) having a midlife crisis. "I get to play this woman who is such an innately good person, and the challenge was not to make her too sickly. I think a lot of women are like that, though. They try so hard to please everybody, and end up pleasing nobody."

It's a typically warm performance and, in person, Duff is rather similar. Not beautiful, exactly, but with huge, expressive eyes, a pixie face, a wide smile, and a charisma that draws you in. It's a presence that translates well to the screen. She has just completed The Last Station, the first movie she has made with her husband, which also stars Helen Mirren. Now she is filming a John Lennon biopic alongside Kristin Scott Thomas. It is directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, who describes Duff as "consistently brilliant, incredibly professional, and a giggle, too".

So what does Duff still long to do? A blockbuster? Does she want to join the ranks of actors living the high life in LA? "God, no. I couldn't live somewhere I couldn't walk. It would be a ball to do a blockbuster, but all mediums are valuable. As soon as you start making plans, you are f***ed, really. Life doesn't co-operate, does it? Things come in and you think, 'Oh, that's unexpected and interesting. Of course I'll do it.' I still worry all the time that the work won't keep coming. All actors do, whatever level they are."

Duff was born to working-class Irish immigrants in west London. "It was a very secure childhood. There weren't as many resources as my parents would have liked, but in essence, it was happy," she says. "My parents worked hard, but they made sure we were okay." She says she didn't feel like an outsider, as most of her school friends had come from another country; yet she found the Drama Centre at Central St Martins, where one of her contemporaries was Paul Bettany, a very uniting and accepting environment. "There were all these people from all walks of life, there was even an Honourable there, and we were all there for the same reason. I love those environments, where everyone is in the same situation - like train stations, when you're all at the point of departure, or that feeling you get when it snows. It equalises everyone and I find it thrilling."

She started working immediately, but her big break was as Fiona in Channel 4's brilliant Shameless. "I gained a bit of weight to play her. I needed a bum," she says. It was a seminal moment in lots of ways, as it was there that she met McAvoy, who played bad boy Steve. In 2006, they were married, and since then, the couple have never looked back, professionally or personally. You get the sense that they are really happy. At one point, Duff talks about being a big worrier - whether she's stressing about the planet, what other people think of her, press coverage or critics - all of which keeps her up at night. One way she switches off is with lots of sex. "Of course I enjoy sex, I have nerve endings," she laughs uproariously. "I mean, who doesn't? Well, I suppose if you had five kids you might not." She pauses. "I make it a priority." She also relaxes by baking cakes, doing yoga, shopping for clothes - "on my own, not with my other half" - dining in her favourite London restaurants, like Konstam, and dancing around the kitchen.

Yet the glaringly obvious element missing from what seems a picture-perfect life is children. Is she ready to start a family? "I would love to have a baby. As soon as the big fella makes it happen, it would be brilliant," she says, pointing to the sky and looking a bit wistful. "I'm not putting it off, but unfortunately, bodies don't work that way."

In the meantime, a play in the autumn in New York is beckoning, and so is the Style photographer. It's time to glam up and be the celebrity - just for a while.

Is Anybody There? opens nationwide on May 1


http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article6140992.ece