For me image and appearance are everything - they can get you in a door or get you thrown out of one, they can get you talked about...they can get you laughed at. They can get you remembered forever or they can make you instantly forgettable.

Image is, sometimes, one of the last improvement points people think about and yet it is the most important, that all-important first impression can mean a 'yes' or 'no' in an instant. Image is not about being trendy or wearing the latest fashion, it is about making the most of how you look, and taking full advantage of it.

We are now going to take a serious look at your image and hopefully get it right - so that when you hit the street, the film set, or anywhere people will go WOW!!!

I love the hipster look with the mid riff showing (on females that is, just make that point quite clear) nearly crashed the car looking at one or two of those, but there is something horrible about hipsters with a huge mid riff hanging out over the top, especially when it's a monster great lump of white mid riff, it looks like they've been shop lifting tripe from the butchers and hidden it down your trousers - but the trousers are too tight and they are now having trouble containing it [the tripe, that is].

It frightens the crap out of me when I see guys like that coming at me, so you can imagine some poor little kid standing under it in a checkout queue, they'd be standing there praying to their God saying: "For fuck's sake, dear Lord, don't let that lot fall out on top of me I'm far to young to die. Take my little brother out 'coz that little shit deserves it, he broke the speedboat I got for my birthday, but please spare me".

I understand people wanting to be in fashion but, not at any cost. If you are wearing the hipster and mid riff outfit right now, go and take a look in a full length mirror and if you think to yourself: "Oh fuck, I'm one of the ones John is talking about, just spare a thought the next time you are in a checkout queue for the poor little kid standing in front of you obscured from your view by the stolen tripe the size of a seal pup and the same colour". You could force that poor little bugger into counselling for years after an experience like that.

If you want to be ultra trendy that's fine but make sure the body and age can carry it off. There is someone I know who is pushing fifty and she dresses like she's eighteen, midriff hanging out and not just a little a lot of it, not that she is fat - she just shows a lot of it. She thinks she looks the mutt's nuts, personally I think it looks like she is desperately trying to hang on to her youth. She could look so classy with just a little tweak here and there, but no, she has to try keeping up with her 16 and 20-year-old daughters and look trendy, crazy! Just my opinion, she is obviously happy with her look - so good luck to her, and what do I know? How can someone with a beard like mine say someone else looks ridiculous? Reality is:- though my beard and my image earn me a living; they are not a fashion statement.

I saw Helen Mirren on TV the other night, not as a character but just being herself. She looked absolutely stunning. She had class with a capital C, she had sex appeal just oozing from every pore, she had it all - and more. Was she trying to be trendy? No. Did she try and dress like she was eighteen? No. What she did was make the absolute best of herself. Her hair was perfect, her make up was neither too much nor too little, she got it 500% right. Helen, you looked stunning. I only wish my 'trendy' fifty-year-old friend had seen you too. She could have learned so much from you.

I'd never say anything to my friend about the way she dresses for fear of hurting her feelings, but if she ever asked me what I thought I would have to be truthful. In lots of ways, I hope she never asks.

I am, as you can probably tell, quite a straight talker, so if someone asks for my opinion they will get it, both barrels. I don't say anything to hurt anyone. I just tell it as I see it. I like people I trust and expect them to be like that with me. I like peoples' honest opinions. It saves an awful lot of time and heartache.

If my 'look' doesn't suit me or it makes me look ridiculous, I want one of my friends to tell me. What is the point of them saying you look a million when, in actual fact, you just look a complete dick?

If you can't take honest constructive criticism, you will end up losing, possibly heavily. However, only take it from people you really trust. Don't take any shit from some narrow-minded dickhead. Their opinions are worth very little because most of the time they just talk through their arse and most of their opinions are based on jealousy; you could be absolute perfection itself but they would still find fault. You must know the type of idiots I am talking about, chat to them by all means but disregard any of their opinions.

Right - get in front of a full-length mirror now, this second, take a good long look. What is staring back at you? And be completely honest. It doesn't matter if you are forty stone, what I want you to see is not the perfect body - although you may have it. I want you to look at yourself and ask yourself the following questions.

• Am I making the absolute best of what I have got?
• Do my clothes make me look like I come from the era I grew up in?
• Is my hairstyle doing me any favours?
• Is my hair just a grease ball?
• Am I trendy and if I am, am I 110% today's' look, or am I missing the boat?
• Have I got a midriff that would frighten kids?
• Do I look like mutton dressed as lamb? That applies to males and females.
• Do I look like a complete fuckwit?

Always ask yourself: If I meet someone today will I leave a lasting impression on him or her? If the answer to this question is 'yes', will they remember you for the right reasons? Or will it be because you had a piece of cabbage stuck between your teeth? Or you had tomato ketchup smeared across your face, or a bogie hanging from your nose?

Check a mirror, preferably a full length one before you go anywhere. Also, check a mirror at every opportunity. Try not to get caught doing this or others will think you are just vain. Very few people, outside of show business, understand the importance of image or the need to just plain: 'look good'.

Ask yourself all of these questions and then ask a whole lot more. The final question has to be; can I improve the way I look, my clothes, my hair, my teeth? The list goes on and on. The answer to that question will be yes it always is because there is always room for improvement.

Take a good look at who you are and be proud of it. Don't try and be something you are not, just make the absolute best of what you have got. If you want to change your image do, but change it to one that suits you and suits your personality.

Buy clothes you absolutely love and only wear things that make you look a $million, even if you can't relax in them, in fact, definitely wear them if you can't relax in them - because that way you will always be aware of your style, composure, and poise. One day you will thank me for all this shit.

Image is everything, write that word down on a piece of paper and stick it to every mirror in your house, especially the ones you use when you are getting ready to go out.

If you want to be a pop star don't dress like a bank clerk. If you want to work in a bank don't dress like a pop star. If you look the part, you will feel the part, and you will be the part.

My photo was in the local paper one week with a story about my appearance in the 'Harry Potter' movie. About ten days after that I was on a film shoot. I had a part as a BA at Charring Cross tube station. As I got to the bottom of the escalator a guy came up to me and introduced himself as the UK production manager for the French film company making the movie, and he said: "Excuse me, but do you live at Lewes in Sussex?" I replied: "Yes sir, how did you know." He said: "I live near there and saw your picture in the local paper a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I saw you coming down the escalator I thought it had to be you but I wanted to ask, just to make sure". We went on to chat for about ten minutes and I ended up getting a small featured part on that shoot instead of just being background as booked. Image works.

I had a feature in a pop video for the band 'Busted' for the song 'Year 3000', I played Matt - thirty years in the future. I was supposed to be arguing with another band member in a dressing room, and later in the vid I appeared on a video wall behind them, and that was all. But, people I meet ask me what I have been in. As soon as I mention 'Busted' they all go: "Of course, I recognise you now". Image works.

I recall being out with a well-known personality who's a good friend of mine watching his son's band. I had probably spent the best part of an hour getting ready, whereas my buddy just threw on the first thing he came across, he looked ok, but that was it, just ok. He made no effort at all to look like the star he really was.

While we were at this gig, a press photographer came up and asked if he could take my photo, to which I replied: "Certainly". He completely ignored the 'name' I had totally overshadowed him, the following week whose picture appeared in the paper? Image works.

Those stories are not for my ego's sake, it is to show you Image works.

John's Ebook 'How to Get Into The Movies' is available at www.makehits.co.uk/indexmovies.htm CLICK HERE