Success is always something completely different to people. I feel like I've succeeded, if I'm doing something that makes me happy and I'm not lying to anybody.
It's a funny thing: You want so badly for people to see what you do - you're proud of it - and I like the effect that movies have on people. But the attention can also make me uncomfortable.
And I like to keep whatever is mine remaining that way. It's a funny little game to play and it's a slippery slope. I always say to myself I'm never going to give anything away because there's never any point or benefit for me.
For most actors, it's such a struggle to get work. Once they have it, they feel that there's an enormous amount of pressure on them to make it work, and have everyone love them. In my case, it was never like that. It was just about working with the people that I want to work with, and telling the stories that I want to tell, you know?
I've always had an aversion to looking sexy, but I've grown out of it.
I have brothers, and that so-called boyish quality was something that I was deathly self-conscious about when I was younger.
The sad thing is that I feel so boring because 'Twilight' is literally how every conversation I have these days begins - whether it's someone I'm meeting for the first time or someone I just haven't seen in a while. The first thing I want to say to them is, 'It's insane! And, as a person, I can't do anything!'
I think people are used to seeing actors be wide open and desperately giving of themselves, and while I do that on a movie set as much as I can, it's so unnatural for me to do it on television, in interviews, in anything like that. I also don't find that my process as an actor is really anyone else's business.
I think I'm a bit less inhibited, and not thinking too much before speaking. It's not about being shameful, I'm just a bit more unabashedly myself because of this thing, and it probably started at age 15. I can be around people and say what I think without fear.
I've actually always been interested in following a character more long term, but the only place to really do that as an actor is on a TV series.
I grew up in a happy household.
Even while starting out I took things very seriously; I wasn't the sort of kid that would do a doll commercial or do a series for Nickelodeon. They asked me to do silly things, and I wasn't a silly kid.
I want a cheeseburger so badly, but I have to be a vampire in a few weeks.
Despite what people think, I was such a rule follower at school.
Females want other females to be really strong, so there are a whole lot of scripts that are basically just male parts renamed as a girl.
I'm not sure if I'm most happy when I'm comfortable and content or when I'm pushing myself to the limits. There are such different versions of happy, and I really appreciate both.
I went to public school up until junior high.
I'm not ready to get married, but I have a pretty great family and I'd like that too, someday.
You know, with the film industry crews, there's an odd mix between a very technical and a very artistic approach to the work, and sometimes as a woman you have to be a little bit careful about how things come out because people don't really want to listen if it's in a certain emotional tone or too strong.