I was having such a hard time when I made Sylvia. I gave everything I had for that role. It’s one or two or three things I’m most proud of in terms of my work. But it was very dark.

I understand what it feels like not to like aspects of yourself. There have been times that I have felt really terrible about the way I look. I have the seed of that feeling.

I just had a baby. I’m not going to work unless it’s something really special and meaningful, because I can’t imagine missing all that time with my daughter.

There’s something that sort of weirds me out about actors who want to be rock stars, and the other way around too.

We feel it’s unacceptable to be fat, when it has nothing to do with who the person actually is.

As I absorbed life here and understood it better, I just completely fell in love with England.

If we were living in ancient Rome or Greece, I would be considered sickly and unattractive. The times dictate that thin is better for some strange reason, which I think is foolish.

I moved to New York from California when I was 11, so initially I was seen as the California person for a while. I didn’t feel like I was popular, but I did feel confident.

I have a very highly developed sense of denial.

The Jewish part of me is superstitious.

Beauty fades! I just turned 29, so I probably don’t have that many good years left in me.

My father, he was like the rock, the guy you went to with every problem.

I understand that if you set out to be a celebrity, then you asked for it, but all I wanted to be was an actor.

I’m an artist, and the need to get inside myself and be creative and be other people is a part of who I am. I don’t imagine I’ll abandon that completely.

I wasn’t the high-school play queen or anything. And my parents would let not me act until I graduated from college.

My playground was the theatre. I’d sit and watch my mother pretend for a living. As a young girl, that’s pretty seductive.

Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.

When you’re so out there in the public eye, people are constantly criticizing every aspect about you.

In the theater, you go from point A to point Z, building your performance as the evening progresses. You have to relinquish that control on a film.

Sometimes when things you love get really commercial, you end up feeling betrayed by it.

I was having such a hard time when I made Sylvia. I gave everything I had for that role. It’s one or two or three things I’m most proud of in terms of my work. But it was very dark.

I don’t know who decided that skinny was more appealing than not skinny. It seems arbitrary.

My life comes down to three moments: the death of my father, meeting my husband, and the birth of my daughter. Everything I did previous to that just doesn’t seem to add up to very much.

Because I was newly pregnant, I was sick as a dog, yet I knew all my lines from a year before.

It’s a waste of time for people to say things they think other people want to hear, or try and come off in a certain way. I try to be as honest as I can.

I spend a good portion of my dinner-party conversation defending America because no matter what the political agenda, it’s still a fantastic, amazing place.

Women were real box office stars in the ’40s, more so than men. People loved to see women’s films. I think it was better then, except for the studio system.

I’ve had a very interesting career. I get to do amazing things and work with amazing people and travel and learn languages – things most people don’t get the opportunity to do.

I really like where Tony Robbins says that we’re all hypnotized to see beauty this one specific way, and it’s true.

I try to remember, as I hear about friends getting engaged, that it’s not about the ring. It’s a grave thing, getting married.

The adrenaline of a live performance is unlike anything in film or theater. I can see why it’s so addictive.

I put on the fat suit and went outside and walked around. I was really nervous about being found out, but nobody would even make eye contact with me. It really upset me.

I say what I think, and I stand behind what I say.

My dad always said he couldn’t remember a time when I did not want to act.

Our marriage is between us. If we decide to continue being together or not, it’s our business.

It changed me more than anything else. You don’t want to get to that place where you’re the adult and you’re palpably in the next generation. And, this shoved me into that.