Gugu Mbatha-Raw believes acting has helped her keep feeling young.

The 43-year-old actress is "loving" life in her 40s but thinks her job helps because it is important to maintain her "childlike imaginative sensitivities" and still be able to "access play".

Asked how she has found her 40s, she told Grazia magazine: "Really, really good. I'm kind of loving it. I'm getting to do what I want to do. I feel like I'm able to kind of appreciate and have meaning in life.

"It reminds me of the Black Mirror episode that I did. How old is your soul? That really resonates with me. It's about your energy, it's about your spirit...

"I feel like I do a job that is literally 'let's pretend'. I feel like I have the privilege that me hanging on to my childlike imaginative sensitivities is actually so important.

"There is a bit of an arrested development being an actor. But in a good way! Because you have to be able to access play.

"Obviously, you still have to operate in the world and do worldly things. But ultimately the thing that you have to preserve is your sense of play and mischief."

The Fuze actress keeps her personal life private, partly because she never wanted to be famous, but also because she thinks it is beneficial to her career.

She said: "I definitely got into this art form because I love acting. I never [had a] desire to be famous.

"I always like believing in an actor's character. I want to go on a journey with them, not be distracted by too much information about them as a person.

"If you're the one always being observed, you're never going to be able to observe humanity. You miss a lot if you're like, 'Oh, everyone's looking at me.' "

Gugu is "constantly filled with gratitude" for the life she has built.

She said: "I'm grateful that I am more established in my career, that I have meaning in my life and confidence to have boundaries.

"I feel incredibly grateful that I'm doing what I wanted to do when I was 11. You know? I made my hobby my job. I feel constantly filled with gratitude that I naively just stuck to that. It's very easy to get worn down by life and I feel grateful that I still feel really optimistic."