I knew from very early on that I wanted kids. I wasn't one of those women who goes, 'Well, if it happens, it happens.' I really wanted a family. Although I didn't actually have my first child until I was 37, I always felt I'd get there.
Whenever I'm doing anything romantic with an actor, or if there's a director around, I never want anybody's wife to feel threatened by me.
It's hard to keep the romance going sometimes. Because you have a job. And you have children. And you have a house and a dog. And something leaks in the basement, and somebody has to take the dog to the vet... you're exhausted.
In my family, there was one parent you asked for money and the other for permission to do things. You could never get both out of one parent.
Once I've ascertained that I'm safe and I'm with a director who is taking care of me, then I'm able to go and do what I need to do and know it's not me, it's the story.
Being middle-aged is about realising that you've lived most of your life. You don't have as much time in front of you as you have behind you.
Behavior is mutable. It changes from place to place. It's like accents, dialect - it varies from one area to another. But there are universal truths about what it means to be a human being. All the other stuff is like applique. Learning that was interesting to me and probably useful for becoming an actor.
You'd have to spend a lot of time with me before I'd be comfortable enough to show my dark side.
I was somebody who was not athletic. I was highly imaginative; I loved to read, and I loved nothing more than being in a story... I didn't want to play ball; I wanted to imagine something and read something.
I think every part's a challenge, and you also never know if you're going to pull it off.
In my opinion, you don't get to have privacy when you're only 16!
Really, you want to have variety as an actor. If you spend your career doing one thing solidly, people get burned out.
I don't know why women do Botox. It doesn't make them look younger, it just makes them look like they had work done. You are not going to look the same as you did at 25.
Every different social group that I encountered had its different set of rules, so you learn very quickly how to pick up the nuances and change yourself accordingly. When you are not from anywhere, you have to try to find what's universal. You are always trying to fit in.
I have women friends who are significantly younger and older than me.
Comedy is ridiculously hard. And if the rhythm is not right, if the music or the line is not right, it's not funny.
The idea behind makeup is to enhance whatever color or contours you have in your face. I'm a big believer in that. And don't use to much powder; powder is really aging. I've made that mistake myself.
I think that one of the things that you do learn is that falling in love and being in love with someone is a rarity. That you don't fall in love as many times as you think you're going to. And then when you do, it's really special; it's really important.
I love clothes - I love shopping for clothes, I love wearing clothes, I love talking about clothes - but oddly, putting on the dress and walking around in front of people, that's the place where I'm most uncomfortable.
My mother brought us to the library every week, and I read a lot. That's what kept me company. I went from school to school, but there was always reading.
'Safe' was a script that I read and flipped out for.
If I had to choose between clothes and furniture, I'd choose furniture.
I've always been somebody who's acutely aware of my mortality.
I think everybody's political. The act of being alive is political. Unless you choose to be a hermit, you're automatically political because you're part of a community.
I moved frequently because my dad was in the army, so I was always new in school. I think if you've ever done that, you know what it means to not matter in a room. I think it's a good experience for everyone to have, to feel like they're not noticed, because it teaches you to be empathetic.
I do love my work. As an actor, you live from job to job, though, and you have to be prepared for that.
If you're 50, you're never going to be 50 ever again, so enjoy being 50. If you sit through the year wishing you were younger, before you know it, it's going to be over, and you're going to be 51.
We like drama. Even in our comedy, we like drama.
Well, you know, I mean, she was so wonderful, and she really played the role to perfection.
The worst thing you could do is scare a kid or trick them. Never, ever, ever do that.
As an actor, there are places you can live, and when I graduated from school, it was either New York or L.A., and I liked the East Coast. That's why I ended up in New York.
People are very reluctant to invest unless they know it's going to be a sure thing, and let's face it: film is never a sure thing.
At the Golden Globes, they put all the bigger stars in the front; the movie stars in the front, TV actors in the back. But even as a movie star, you can be outseated by a bigger star in any given year. It's kind of hilarious. You have to take it in stride.
In grade school, I was a complete geek. You know, there's always the kid who's too short, the one who wears glasses, the kid who's not athletic. Well, I was all three.
With actors, all our ages are out there for all to see - you can't hide anything, really. And it's kind of a relief. This is my age, this is what I look like without makeup on - who cares? That youth culture - that lying about your age - it's all denial of death anyway.
My mom worked as a psychiatric social worker. She was interested in people, and I guess I am, too. So we would talk about the people that we knew, and why they behaved the way they did.
We allow for many more gradations of personality in life than we do in art.
The kids go to a Quaker school. Their father and I believe a lot in community, social responsibility, making sure you give to people less fortunate than you.
My life may be a pretty crazy life at times, but it's a very privileged one - being able to earn a good living doing what you love. Not many people have such an opportunity.
We shouldn't require our politicians to be movie stars. Then again, we're all influenced by charisma. It's hard not to be. We all collectively fall for it.
I love going to Scotland.
When I was seven, these kids in the alley behind our house in Omaha called me Freckleface Strawberry. I hated my freckles, and I hated that name. I thought it was humiliating in the way that only a seven-year-old could hate it.
I'm not really afraid of things that are imaginary. I enjoy it. I enjoy big narrative, and I enjoy big feelings. Having a feeling is never going to kill you.
My mom came to the U.S. very young, and then she married very young. But she was never American. She was always Scottish and would make sure that I knew that I was, too.
We didn't have a lot of money growing up, so my mom didn't buy a lot of extras, like sweet things.
Every child is so different. Their experience growing up and their experience relating to the world has so much to do with their temperament, and their likes and their dislikes.
If you're reading IMDB, half of it's made up. You can't trust it or Wikipedia, which is just lies, lies!
My father was a military judge, and my mother was a psychiatric social worker. My brother and sister and I were moved around constantly, in and outside the U.S., living in Germany for much of our teens.
The only reason I got married in 2003 was for my children. I had a therapist who said marriage is really a container for a family, and that made sense to me.
