Preparation is definitely important, but it depends on the kinds of roles I do. Like, I completely identify with my character in 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.' I had to be myself and I didn't have to actually prepare for it.

And I have to work so hard at talking positively to myself. If I don't, it's just real hard to get through the day, and I'll get really down, and just want to cry. My whole body language changes. I get more slumped over.

Red carpets are awful. They're like a kind of purgatory - you stand there, and there are cameras flashing everywhere. One of my first red carpets was in Cannes for 'The Great Gatsby,' and I'd never seen anything like it.

YI think what's cool about 'Scott Pilgrim' is that it shows that there is a superhero within all of us. There's not one ideal image of what a superhero looks like, and you don't really see that until the end of the film.

I think I'm a really good partner and very sensitive to the other person's feelings. I want somebody else to be comfortable, to understand about my job, and if they want to come on a set and see me work, they always can.

I thought, I'm just going to give as much attention and curiosity to acting as I did to like making my coffee in the morning and see how that feels, rather than resisting it and angsting, and it turned out it felt great.

My agent called me and said, "You have an audition for James Bond. They're looking for the girl." And I told him, "Listen, it's all in English. I'm not an actress. I'm not going to go." He thought I was kidding with him.

When I was in Middle of The Night, MGM came and offered me a contract and I said that when I got out of the play, I'd like to try it. I didn't know anything about making movies but I was certainly finding it interesting.

I never pursued anything but acting. But as a kid, I was really interested in the Supreme Court. I wanted to to be a Supreme Court justice, but didn't want to be a lawyer. I just wanted to go straight to being a justice.

I would like to be remembered as someone who accomplished useful deeds, and who was a kind and loving person. I would like to leave the memory of a human being with a correct attitude and who did her best to help others.

I did get bullied and I did get picked on and I did have that feeling in my gut of being incredibly self-conscious. I naturally gravitated towards my elders because I didn't know how to speak or be present with my peers.

It may not be the most popular but there is a place for it. I think about the kind of music I love, acoustic, melodic, and I guess it kind of took a bit of courage on my part to think I could be one of those songwriters.

It really helps you to go through difficult situations by just thinking about it as being a big amount of work which you have to solve how to do. For example, I don't feel very inspired when I act, I just act. That's it.

People are unbelievably giving and caring and understanding of me because of what I do for a living and because actors tend to get their asses kissed everywhere they go, so I can be extra-understanding in a relationship.

I think, in the past, being brave - being powerful, being strong - were qualities that people associated with being masculine. And I think... no, I don't think - I know that now we're realizing they can be feminine, too.

I think I approach my choices much the way I approach the way I consume movies and TV and stuff. I like everything, and sometimes I'll feel like a horror movie, and sometimes I'll just feel like an episode of 'Hoarders.'

With me, what you see is what you get. Yes, call me naive, but I love life. I am happy, and for that, I make no apologies. I do like to see the best in people, and when someone is nice to my face, I tend to believe them.

As an actor, I'm my own worst critic, but after awhile, really, when you watch 'Moonrise Kingdom', it's such a fantastic film that you sort of get sucked into the story, and then you kind of forget about everything else.

I'd really like to show women my age - who've had children grow up or lost husbands or retired after working all their lives - that there are options. There are choices. We don't have to just sit around and be invisible.

The Romanoffs are like the other side of 'The Great Gatsby.' 'Gatsby' is about the people who don't have the history but who want it. And 'The Romanoffs' is about the people who have it and don't know what to do with it.

Basically, in our society, you can never fix anything enough. The minute you get your head above water about one thing, they let you know that 12 other things about you suck. It's like playing 'Self-Esteem Whack-A-Mole.'

A lot of my albums that Ive done, a lot of the songs have been the first take. Its before you mess with it too much - you can take away all the spontaneity and the emotion of something by trying to make it sound perfect.

My mother's mother is Jewish and African, so I guess that would be considered Creole. My mother's father was Cherokee Indian and something else. My dad's mother's Puerto Rican and black, and his father was from Barbados.

I have been presented with roles with demand not just a physical ability but mental disciplines as well. 'Memoirs of a Geisha' was not so much about physical exertion... it was much more graceful and contained than that.

I went to Juilliard in New York and used to do cabarets just for fun. Occasionally, I would get together with a jazz musician and play at a restaurant for cash. And I've done some background vocals for recording artists.

I think for women especially, writing and creating your own role, producing, directing - having some control over what you do is really important. We can pave the way for other women to send what messages they want sent.

When I was a teenager, I was like, 'Something is wrong with me. I don't fit in. I'm not like everybody else.' So, I always knew that I wanted to explore and move on, but it was completely unexpected, the way it happened.

all the French speak French - even the children. Many Americans and Britishers who visit the country never quite adjust to this, and the idea persists that the natives speak the language just to show off or be difficult.

I had dreams of conehead aliens when I was little. Before 'Saturday Night Live' did it. And then they came out with them, and I went on to be a glorified extra in the movie. When everyone else was laughing, I was scared.

If you emote in your performances, people feel connected to you as an emotional person, because that's how we communicate. That doesn't mean people know you. At a certain point, I think you have to just be your own self.

In my own life, there's no amount of success or money that's more important than your child being healthy and happy. There's nothing that can put a band-aid on that. There's nothing more valuable, to me, than your child.

To convince another part of the world that Bollywood is not just jokers who break into song and dance was very difficult. I'm literally ploughing the ground and making people understand that Indian actors are not a joke.

Whenever I pick a script, I make sure I'm choosing something I would want to watch. And 'Quantico' was something I'd definitely want to watch. As soon as I read the pilot - and I read 26 this season - I knew this was it.

We've got our football where no one wears anything and the guys are in little shorts and they beat the crap out of each other, and they can catch it and they can kick it, and it's the only place it's played in the world.

Not all offers I get are exciting and inspiring. I would rather sit at home and not work than jump into mediocrity for the sake of just moving ahead. If it's a good script, I would sacrifice my personal time and grab it.

Being given a terrible piece of information shouldn't ruin the interactions you have with the people around you or mean that you can't become something, even if it's not the idea of what you thought you were going to be.

I had friends who were actors. I had some close friends who are actors before I had fallen into it. And but I never approached anybody about doing it. But once I had been approached, I said, 'Sure and I'll give it a go.'

I think the ultimate goal is that when we're off-stage, we know everything our character is thinking. Hopefully when we are on-stage, our thoughts are our character's thoughts because we really know that much about them.

I think when I was in my early twenties and middle twenties I didn't even know I wasn't living up to my potential. A couple of friends told me I wasn't and told me to get my act together, and it made a huge impact on me.

Our whole way of life today is dedicated to the removal of risk. Cradle to grave we are supported, insulated, and isolated from the risks of life - and if we fail, our government stands ready with Bandaids of every size.

There's a real danger in trying to stay king of the mountain. You stop taking risks, you stop being as creative, because you're trying to maintain a position. Apart from anything else that really takes the fun out of it.

In my personal life, I have always been bold, from the clothes I wear to how I talk. For me, boldness does not necessarily mean stripping. I think people have wrong notion about boldness. For me, bold is being different.

I'm single. I just moved to a new city. I'm sort of starting over. I'm in Los Angeles. I don't really know what my life is right now. It's not what I thought it'd be at 37, and I think a lot of people can relate to that.

I am a divorced child, of divided, uncertain background. Within this division I - supposed fruit of their love - no longer exist. It happened nearly forty years ago, yet to me, nothing is sadder than my parents' divorce.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, and regularly, my parents would take us to the Holiday House Supper Club to see acts like Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughn, Ben Vereen, Freda Payne, Stephanie Mills, and The Temptations, to name a few.

There are people who fly to the height of stardom in a single day, and then there are people like me. I used to have this ridiculous idea that I absolutely had to be a big, big movie star. Now all I'm after is happiness.

I have enjoyed the success my work has brought me. Some might say I haven't really struggled to be successful. I think it is my perspective that is utopian. My state of mind is positive and peaceful. And I dare to dream.

Gary Ross is a really awesome director. He envisioned everything in The Hunger Games perfectly, exactly how I imagined it, which is perfect to work on because it just makes everything fall into place when you're working.

I was named Margaret Yvonne - Margaret because my mother was very fond of one of the derivatives of the name. She was fascinated at the time by the movie star Baby Peggy, and I suppose she wanted a Baby Peggy of her own.

Even prior to marriage and motherhood, it's always been about prioritising and focusing on what you can commit to. That's been my approach to every aspect of my life, be it my relationships or my professional commitments.

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