I was a pretty nerdy kid. I was pretty nerdy. I'm still kind of nerdy. I have all of the worst qualities of being a nerd - all of the affect and none of the smarts. I'm a useless nerd! That's pretty bad.

Television lets audiences deeply connect with characters.

My first offer was when I was 12, and it was for a soap opera. And I turned it down because I knew that I was an unformed actor, and I didn't want to develop bad habits.

I have to say that my dad's face is very malleable. He's barely got any cartilage in his face. I think I maybe inherited that Play-Doh-like physicality from him.

So much of my job is about finding another job, and that's really boring.

Growing up in New York City, I was always encouraged to question authority, and I think I confused patriotism with jingoism.

I would not say that secret-keeping is one of my finer skills, actually.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior. I am really interested in feelings and think they are what define us as a species. When you really get it right in acting, it's an act of empathy. You feel less distant from others, and that is really exciting.

I'm just a big old nerd.

I was a serious kid to an absurd degree. I was overwhelmed with responsibility. You know, trying to play grown up. I overdid it.

I don't know any celebrated people that register in a big way who aren't unique.

I've always had a really active imagination. Lots of kids have imaginary friends. Mine just took on a rather demonic form.

As a young performer, I didn't know that you can have a great time playing someone in terrible crisis. The more you know it's not real, the deeper you can go into it. And the easier it is to let it go when it's done.

I actually think in some ways that it might be more challenging to be bipolar because it's so mercurial - it's so ever-changing. You can't get any traction. You can't build on a system. Whereas, somebody who has Asperger's, which is certainly a much more forgiving expression of autism, can create models for coping and build on them over time.

I guess I stopped acting when I was 18 and didn't pick it up again until I was 21. That wasn't the plan, though. When I first started at Yale, the plan was to do a movie each summer.

By the time I went to Yale, I'd been acting for a long time and I was really tired of it. I was restless - and a little bored - and I was really eager to investigate different parts of myself.

I'm just always learning lines. I've learned to flag the really crucial scenes, and I start figuring them out and committing them to memory as soon as I get them.

I was a very confident child. I knew I wanted to be an actress from the age of 5.

My parents never condescended to me. As a child, I always sat at the head of our dinner table. I was always given a lot of responsibility.

It's very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it's fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.

I like marriage. I feel very secure. It helps when you are in love with the person you are married to.

I could truly have gone through life thinking that women were these venomous creatures. Turns out, they're not.

I've always very earnestly tried to do my best, so I just have to trust that and forgive myself for being fallible.

I discovered Christopher Isherwood in college. His writing style is so direct, warm, and inclusive.