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I've been really lucky with acting, in that I can do things I believe in and feel good about, and feel good about myself. If for some reason one day that ends, I won't do it anymore. If I feel like I have to compromise myself to continue to be in this industry, I don't want to do that.
I think it's a relatable concept - when you have a long-term relationship or marriage, and you want to try to be friends with that person, because you kind of grew up with that person and they know you better than anyone, and how it's just impossible to make that transition seamlessly.
I think that's also why it's so exciting. I really believe this play is important these are issues that people don't talk about. Certainly they never talked about this type of thing at my high school. That's what makes it so hard for kids. But it is something that people do go through.
If you saw me without concealer, you would see that I have raccoon eyes. And I think my forehead is too small. I am not quintessentially beautiful. I am photogenic, but that's only because I have learned how to make the best of what I've got from the make-up artists I have worked with.
Men are even afraid to say, 'You look nice,' or, 'You look pretty,' when you come out of hair and makeup to walk on set. And before, men would constantly - producers would constantly say things, but that's kind of a way that they would butter the actresses up and make them feel secure.
In our generation, everybody told us that it's really important and it's nice to be able to speak a lot of languages. It's an art, too. It really impresses me, people who speak, like, seven languages. I admire them so much, so I began with English, and then Spanish and maybe Portuguese.
It's a mixed feeling when everything you've ever wanted in making films is coming true, and yet you feel scared because it's happening all at once. Suddenly you're in rooms with people you've looked up to for years, the Judi Denches. You wonder if you're good, if you have what it takes.
In my case, when you dive into a role, to do well and for you to do well in it, you have to put an enormous amount of faith in the director. But you also have to decide you're so interested in the material, this director, his work, and his process, that you don't care about the outcome.
I think that when a film does its job, it poses questions rather than gives answers. It should act as a frustrating counselor who, at your bidding for advice, says, 'What do you think?' I think that's some of what the culture critic Greg Tate meant by art leaving a 'metaphysical stain.'
I eat cupcakes and I don't work out! But if you ask me in 10 years, I'm going to regret answering that way now. I don't even drink water, I'm terrible! I'm 24 now, so I guess I've been very, very lucky that it doesn't show that I like to eat. I should probably start working out I guess.
Go out there and try on everything - short skirts, long skirts, mid length, little jackets, men's clothing - and really look at yourself; really walk around in the clothes. Don't just take someone else's advice. You must feel you in these clothes and feel what it's like to live in them.
The thing I absolutely hate is when directors don't know what they want, and then they ask you to do it this way, and then maybe that way, and maybe that way, because they haven't made up their minds what they want. So you're running around in circles trying to give them what they want.
I'd say that my musical influences are anywhere from pop-rock electronica, new age and classical. But I think that specifically, bands - I love Jem, I love Sigur Ross, I love David Gray, I love Elliot Smith... a lot of different people. But I don't find lyrical inspiration from anybody.
At the premiere for 'Leave It to Beaver,' I was walking down the red carpet, and they were screaming my name, and I'm wondering, 'What do I do?' So I had to think, 'OK, calm down, one person at a time.' Everything is kind of rattling, but afterwards, my publicist said I did really good.
I don't revisit anything unless there's a really good occasion, like BAM screened 'This Is My Life', with Lena Dunham and Nora Ephron before she died. It also screened 'Uncle Buck', so I took my niece. I don't have a TV, so I don't happen upon old movies like you would if you had cable.
Sometimes you can't fight change, because you're a part of it, and I feel that in the context of these films that are happening now, there is a kind of change coming in terms of how history is represented on film, and the African, and the African-American and British African experience.
I've definitely had some tough schoots. I'd say everything that I've done has had some sort of challenge that I've had to overcome. But it's the most satisfying feeling once you have and that's what I love about acting, sort of signing on to it knowing that it's going to be challenging.
You try to find the internal life, but a lot of it is creating it through physical behavior and figuring out the voice when you create as much of a past as you would in a naturalistic piece. But it's fun, because it's like you're learning something, learning some kind of physical skill.
I loved being on the set with my stepfather. I loved the magic of movies. I went on the set of 'The Mod Squad' - I mean, can you imagine? Just walking into a living room and then walking behind the living room, and it's just flat. There's nothing I love more than being on a sound stage.
If I didn't get a job, between 16 and 18, that wasn't significant, I was just going to go to college. I didn't want to be a struggling actor at 36 with five kids, doing something I hated. You see the story so much. It's such a vicious business to be in when you're not meant to be in it.
Acting, for me, has never been about wanting attention or wanting to be seen. It's funny that I'm in a profession where that's where I am. There's so much I want to express; it's about connecting with another person and the intimacy of what that is, and so I have to overcome my shyness.
It would be great to do another television show that was a multi-camera because the hours are so wonderful and you can be a good mom at the same time. The problem is, there aren't a lot of multi-camera shows that I personally like. My aesthetic is more geared toward single-camera shows.
Actually even at the beginning of my career, I never felt rejected. I was still working hard and believed in myself. I wasn't in a hurry and was picking and choosing projects carefully even then when I was just a newcomer. My attitude towards films hasn't changed even after these years.
Cancer makes you realise that you will be dead one day. It's so common seeing people dying and falling sick, but we aren't really ever able to comprehend it ourselves. The realisation that I am here for a certain period of time and will be gone after that made me value my time and life.
I say this about everything: when I was on 'Neighbours,' I said, 'These are the best years of my life!' When I was filming 'The Wolf Of Wall Street,' I said, 'These are the best months of my life!' I always think I'm having the best time ever, and that I'll never have so much fun again.
And that's how show business is like in Israel - it's very, very small. It kind of feels like a high school environment, you know? Everyone knows everyone and if you come to Israel for a month, you'll meet half of the actors on different occasions - not to mention in the doctors office!
I had so many offers after 'True Blood' for things that were someone in the same vein, but nowhere near Alan Ball's vision. Or something that was over-the-top and fantastical. And I've always wanted to play the regular, working-class mom, and I've never really had the chance to do that.
It's so great to come in and do something where you know how strong the format of the show is and you're working with writers and directors who worked on the original show. It feels like you're going into a well-run ship already. Then it's just a matter of creating these new characters.
I find, in film, we're always making things and having these intense friendships and then losing track of people. When I first start a job, I'm quite nervous, and it takes me a while to find my place, and then it feels like I'm just really loving it and feeling great, and it's all over.
I went to Briar Cliff College initially, and then I transferred to Georgetown University, because I was a Russian major, and I was one of two girls accepted that year. This was September 1969 - well, that would have been 1970 - into the School Of Languages And Linguistics in Georgetown.
I'd never even seen orange cheese. I mean, who decided to make that orange? And so there was something different about me that they wanted to crush. I don't think it had anything to do with my physicality, but every single day in school it was, "You're the ugliest thing I've ever seen."
I bring ideas to set, and I'm more than willing for those to be affected and be malleable based on what the other person gives me. I don't know what another actor is going to give me, on the day, and I don't want to be so hard and fast in my technique that I'm not open to what's coming.
Ever since I was a little teen, I was told by my great-grandma that you've got to always have a good moisturizer. I use cocoa butter, and I use it for all things needing moisture - face, hair, throw it on those legs at the beach, get them all shiny. Cocoa butter is such a great product.
I'm definitely one of those actresses who comes to a set knowing how I want to do a scene, and I definitely love input from my directors and my writers. I know that there's some actors who like to be left alone, they like to be very independent, but I actually really enjoy the teamwork.
It's very rare that you get a part that you actually like. People have a misconception, whether it be because actors lie or because you're reading interviews from giantly, massively famous actors, but you don't just get offered parts, all the time. You actually have to work to get them.
When I look for the next project, it's always about, 'Is it going to push me out of my comfort zone? Am I doing something different? Am I working with people who are passionate about what they're doing?' At the end of the day, if I'm going to be bored on set, then I'm not gonna be happy.
When I'm not working, I would kill to have some sort of creative outlet other than, say, a coloring book. And when I'm working, I want to do all those things I was griping about - you know, make a turkey-and-cheese sandwich, put it in a zip-top bag, and stick it in a lunch box right now!
I think life is politics anyway. You can't ignore it, but you can go very wrong in politics. You can say what you thought 50 years ago, but maybe you're wrong today. It's something very special, politics. I think you'd better be a good person in life every day - it's much more important.
I'll tell you, in making film, especially when you're an actress, you're always worried about how you look on film, how they light you, always working with your camera people to be at your best, with the expectations of our culture that you always look perfect and beautiful and whatever.
Using the word 'bossy' for girls can be quite harmful. What is that saying - that being focused, being assertive, being the boss has a negative attribute? And I have heard that term associated more with women than with men. 'He's so bossy' - you don't hear that. It's a very subtle thing.
I make a really delicious eggplant and squash curry that's inspired by Vij of Vij's Restaurant, a great chef and restaurateur in Vancouver. I like to cook that dish because it's really simple, but the flavor is so pungent and intense that I feel like I'm a real chef whenever I create it.
Sometimes I feel really bad for the audience. I don't know how to make them happy. And you just feel drained cause you're trying everything possible to turn things around. And sometimes it is possible to turn things around on stage, and I've done it before, but sometimes it's impossible.
I've always followed my heart. With every project that I've ever chosen, it's been something that I felt I couldn't live without, and that I couldn't spend another day of my life not knowing that I didn't do that role, gave my all to that role, and gave all of my emotions and soul to it.
There's such a stigma around girls' periods, and women's sexuality - girls can't speak out for themselves or be who they want to be. I think that coming from the social platform that I have, I try to be a positive influence, and this was something that I felt needed to be seen and heard.
It's disconcerting that there's been this weird business model focused on teenaged boys, and it comes with a completely unexamined social cost. I hope there's an awareness happening to create an audience habituated to seeing women as they really are, rather than just a masticated shadow.
I think that being isolated from the Hollywood world of premieres and red carpet events was probably good for me because I could ease into those at will and by my own choice. But in other aspects, when it comes to fanfare, Hawaii is nuts and in L.A. they're all so jaded. They don't care.
I've been accused of being cold, snobbish, distant. Those who know me well know that I’m nothing of the sort. If anything, the opposite is true. But is it too much to ask to want to protect your private life, your inner feelings? Lots of things touch me and I don’t want to be indiscreet.
My father was a Republican, and he couldn't stand what Franklin Delano Roosevelt was doing to the country. I always say I'm a mean-spirited narrow-minded right-wing, conservative Christian ... I start out with that, and if you don't like it, you can lump it. I am not politically correct.
I feel with this film that as long as we tell Philomena's story and as long as we're true to her, which Jeff and Steve have already done by writing the story... we must not sell her short;. She's a most remarkable woman and all my concern was that we must be absolutely true to her story.
One of my modeling bookers told me that the most important thing is to try to be vigilant about taking care of yourself. Get sleep, don't be afraid to trim your hair even if you're trying to grow it out, don't bite your fingernails, and stay in shape. A lot of it is in the little things.