I struggled for so long to try to create a career.

People were confused by me, and at first I was auditioning a lot for the crazy characters or the victim, someone who'd been attacked. Which is great, because usually those are the best acting roles.

I'm a true believer that you get out of something what you put into it.

Green tea throughout the day is the healthiest thing I've discovered for me.

I don't want people to look at me.

I have problems because I'm very expressive, and usually red lipstick gets on my teeth and face.

When something happens, I always check myself and know it's going to go away. So be prepared for it. This is a tough business for actors who are sensitive. If you try to hold on to things, you'll go crazy.

The great thing about modern feminism is that women can define what it means to them: it can mean being ambitious, it can mean being emotional, it can mean being sensitive and compassionate and also a leader. It can mean all those things.

I take great responsibility in any character that I play.

When you take away healthcare from women, you're keeping women out of the workforce because you're eliminating their choice of when to start a family.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I don't think anyone knew what to do with me.

I think that with any emotion - fear, love, nervousness - if the actor's feeling it, then the audience feels it.

Okay, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I'm a very superstitious person. I'm walking onto the plane as we speak. I'm putting my hands on the outside of the plane and my feet are on the lip of the plane. I have to do it every time before I fly.

Everyone has to learn how to live in an environment that has not made it easy for women to claim their place, so I think it's all women's responsibility to step forward.

The power of 'no' means you're educating people in how to treat you.

I'm inspired by people who are so sensitive and vulnerable that they try to cover it up.

I never heard in my entire life that a man was overprepared for anything. I am overprepared in my life. What's wrong with being ambitious, being overprepared, being one step ahead?

Some people think I've had a nose job. I've never had anything like that done, but I have no judgement of anyone that does.

Being a woman has always been a powerful thing, where history has sometimes dictated otherwise, but I believe that a woman can be compassionate, sensitive, soft, kind.

I went to public school, and I didn't do well in school. And it wasn't until, actually, I got into school at Juilliard - it was the first time in my life that I thought, 'Oh, maybe I'm not stupid,' because I was so inspired and passionate about what I was learning, and it was the first time in my life I had felt that.

I was a dramatic kid. I remember, I was very young, and once I knew what I wanted to do I, like, created a theater company, and I would direct, and we would sell lemonade to buy props.

There I was at 'The Tree of Life' premiere, holding hands with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. That walk down the red carpet was a real rite of passage for me. Suddenly, journalists began asking, 'Who's this actress?'

My whole life, I wanted to be an actor. Perhaps the seed was planted when I saw Sigourney Weaver in 'Alien', wiping the floor with the men on the ship.

I don't want to be in my car all day. I love getting up in the morning in Venice and walking my dogs down to the cafe to get my tea, and then perhaps going to a bookstore and sitting and reading, then walking to the beach.