I am not interested in being a Barbie doll and turning myself into a sausage for the next 20 years. I want to follow actresses like Helen Mirren and Judi Dench who have lines on their faces and aren't afraid of playing their age.

I've realized that the most important thing I can do to look good is just treat myself well, whether it's getting a nice, long massage or just lying low and not going out every single night.

I have a very healthy dose of self-loathing. But I think we all have a past of being whatever our story was, of feeling not good enough. It can propel you to work harder and do more, but it can also be a tremendous trap, and you can't see beyond it.

It was difficult when I was very young because I was so separated from my family. When I was at school or acting in a play, I felt very much part of something, and then it would always change, and I would be by myself.

I wanted to understand pain and the human condition, which is full of pain and regret and sadness - and some happiness, if you're lucky.

I don't think I'm vain... but I do like to be lit well.

I always assumed that, like my mother before me, one day I would have children. When I was 5, my fantasy was to have a hundred dogs and a hundred kids.

It's easy to diet or get off a diet when you've got a juicy role to play.

I like to step outside of what people's idea of me might be. I suppose that makes me a bit of a rule-breaker. I like to take chances.

The older I get, the less jarring I want my exercise to be, and I find that a long walk is equally as helpful and satisfying as a three-mile jog.

I have a big appetite, and staying on top of that is about knowing myself and saying, 'I can eat that today, but tomorrow I'm not going to.'

There's a look people get in their eyes when you're talking to them and they're not seeing you, and you know it's because they have a movie running through their head.

Looking good has never been the most important thing to me. Maybe it's because I'm more conventionally, um, acceptable, so it's not an issue for me. I don't know.

I don't know many women who can relate to Sharon Stone and the kind of movies she does. I don't know a lot of guys who can relate to Tom Cruise's movies because they're on a kind of fantastic level. I like movies I can relate to.

You have to be desirable. And that's why so many woman of my age or even younger are pushed to Botox and plastic surgery, all the things that people say, 'Why do women do this?' Where do you go in your 50s in your career?

Your dressing area should be your private space.

Theatre is immediate, it's alive, you're there with the audience, it can't be done again and again and again and again, it's organic.

When I got out of my Twenties I stopped playing women that were victims. I like playing women who are strong and have a piece of mind.

There are many ways to be a mother. I have a lot of young actors I mentor, and my nieces and my nephews need a lot of love.

Being a biological mother just isn't part of my experience this time around. However, I am a mother who continues to give birth to ideas and ways of experiencing life that challenge the norm.

I try not to listen to the shoulds or coulds, and try to get beyond expectations, peer pressure, or trying to please - and just listen. I believe all the answers are ultimately within us.

Theatre can't be done again and again and again and again - it's organic.

That's what life is - you follow where your heart leads you - at least I do.

Since doing the show I've been so busy that I've not really had time to mope.