I'm drawn to roles because they excite me intellectually and emotionally.
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 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.
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.
In my life and career I want to embrace ageing because I think that's what's interesting.
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.
When I see a woman who looks her age, she's radiating something, and it's life.
I've always thought that less was a lot more.
Have you seen some of the women - and the men - in Los Angeles? They pay surgeons to make them look completely different in the hope of finding their youth. But youth comes from within. If you have a young attitude, then that can show in your face, the way you walk and move.
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.
I got to L.A., and they said I had to lose weight, let my hair grow and buy some dresses. I was nailing auditions with my readings, but they wouldn't hire me because I wasn't putting on the glam. It just didn't occur to me.
I don't read reviews because if they're bad I'm devastated and if they're good I get a big head.
I'm not expecting much work in Hollywood, to be honest. People stick to film because they tend to get offered the same roles over and over again, and it's safe. But I'm not interested in doing that.
I'm not a personality actress. I never have been. I have been a character actress.
When you're filming, you work 19-hour days, and you know more about what's going on with your crew and co-workers than you do with your husband.
I've learned that I can't have a packed work schedule and a packed social schedule and a packed personal life; I need to just have time to myself to sit and breathe and unwind.
I've been dieting my whole life because I have a tremendous appetite.
A lot of my life has been lonely. Fantastic, but lonely.
It's your body, your life. Do what you want to do.
My film career was always to support my theater career.
I've seen some women who are not particularly attractive but they have an assurance, and there's something so attractive about someone who doesn't have to work so hard.
Someone recently asked what I am most proud of. The thing I'm most proud of is that I'm in my 50s and I'm still a leading lady.
That's what life is - you follow where your heart leads you - at least I do.
I like my life. It's good.
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.
Having my priorities in order has really helped me look better, fresher, and more relaxed.
I don't really watch television, and I don't watch these shows that promote shows.
I'm smart with my money, I invest conservatively. I don't mind paying top-dollar, but I don't want to get ripped off.
I feel sometimes and in some ways like Linda Romanoli and Monica Velour; I feel marginalized because I'm in my fifties. If you went online and you look at some of the blogs, which one can do on a lonely night, it's pretty startling what people will say about you just because you're in your fifties.
The roles for women in theatre are much better than they are in film.
What would be really difficult is to be sitting on a beach. There's vacations, and there's vegetations. I don't do well vegetating.
I am no size zero or super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.
I enjoyed making people laugh. I discovered that I loved that power over them. On stage, I felt I could really express who I was for the first time.
Art is an expression of who you are. Parts that I play are my sculptures.
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.'
Practically all the relationships I know are based on a foundation of lies and mutually accepted delusion.
When I feel lost and can't make a decision, I just stop and get quiet. I take a time-out.
If you stick with a vision, it might not all work, but some of it will be absolute genius. To me, 15 minutes worth of absolute genius in a film is so much better than two hours of mediocrity. I would rather pay to see something different like that.
Once you have a child, that becomes your life, and while that's the way it should be, I sort of have a love affair with my work. Having said that, many of us work far too hard and we don't put enough value in the epicurean, sensual part of life.
A successful television series can chain you to a schedule of long hours and can put your personal life on hold. But after it is all over, if you survive, then anything is possible.
If my accomplishments frighten someone, it's nothing to do with me - that's to do with them. But the men who are in my life see me as a person - as a woman - not as a character I've played.
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?
The first professional play I ever saw was The Importance Of Being Earnest, and I just fell in love.
I've been playing sexually aware women most of my life. At this point I expected to be playing moms and wives. It's exciting to play a femme fatale.
A pilot is like the most extensive dress rehearsal you can ever imagine, because the writers are learning about the actors, the actors are learning about the characters.
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.
The most difficult thing about my job is that I do a lot of 19-hour days. It's really difficult to have a life, never mind a relationship. I don't have any regrets, really. I'm quite content. I'm very stubborn and persistent. I just keep working.
I don't want to be in boardrooms talking about hiring hairdressers and minivans. I'm not good at it, and I don't like to hire and fire people. I hate that. It's horrible.
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.
