I grew up in Manhattan and, since my father was a playwright, all I ever wanted to be was a stage actress.
I'm an actress. It's my passion.
Personality is the most important thing to an actress's success.
It's interesting: John Calley at Warner Bros. helped me put 'Alice' together. It was very unusual back then for a studio to support an actress the way he backed and supported me. He even asked me if I wanted to direct the film, which I didn't feel prepared to at that point.
Being an actress is the sublimation of feminity.
My goal was simply to be a working actress. I never imagined myself on Broadway.
I was actually really sick of being a broke actress with a toddler, so I wrote a script.
Before I was cast for 'Brothers,' we all knew that Karan Johar was looking for an actress for to play a mother's role. I never thought that he would think of casting me.
I have an older sister named Haley and she wanted to be an actress. So I wanted to be an actress. It's really funny the way that some people don't give kids enough credit for like really being driven, and really wanting to do things so badly.
I don't compete with actresses; I only compete with heroes.
I've always been a gurner. I tried to reel it in. You know there was a period when I thought I was going to be a really serious actress, but the gurning... I can't get in control of it. It just runs away with me.
I have pessimistic moments when I think I should go on a diet because people are paying money to see movies with exceptional-looking actresses. But being in college has helped me realize that the best thing I can do is to feel good about myself and forget about other people's standards.
The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.
I'm not always the nicest person to meet, because I forget very easily that I'm an actress when I'm not working.
There are some actresses that can't do comedy; it's too heavy-handed.
It took me a long time to be accepted as an actress, I think, because of the modeling and because of my mother.
I think as a young actress, it's very rare that you read something where you're not either 'the girl' or there to serve some romantic purpose in a male dominated cast.
I remember that when I was in my 30s, a hot age for an actress, lots of offers were coming in, but nothing was great, and I didn't work for 18 months. It was at a really fruitful age, and I wanted to work. There was nothing coming down the pipeline that I thought was good - and then I got 'The Piano.'
I did this TV show, which was my first job ever. It wasn't a real acting part. It was like this promo for this sitcom and the main actress was meeting three different real people and then she was going to decide who was going to be on the episode.
I first wanted to be an actress after seeing a play - not a movie.
I desperately wanted to play the part of Darth Vader's mother - I think she ended up being played by a Scandinavian actress - because my son was completely crazy about 'Star Wars.'
I'm not the kind of actress that goes home with the character. I mean, you're thinking about the work or the next day's scenes, but not staying in character. But as a film goes on, you become more and more fragile, emotionally. And physically too, actually.
I used to say Edinburgh was a beautiful actress with no talent. I thought it was just like a shortbread tin. I think that's because I did six Festivals in a row there, and I never saw the real Edinburgh, just a lot of deeply annoying Cambridge Footlights kids wanting to be actresses.
I studied theater in college, and I really wanted to be an actress and play a lot of different roles. Then I made landing on a television comedy my main focus.
As a mother, you feel much more vulnerable. And when you're vulnerable, you're a much better actress.
It hasn't been smooth or delightful every minute, there were lean years and rough years, but it's been exciting and good and I'm thrilled to be an actress and a singer and to have spent my life this way.
I proud to say that most of the Iranians love me and love my work. I love them, and I always have them in my mind when I work. There are few people who do not agree with me, but truly, I don't care. I call myself an actress with a mission.
I made a conscious decision back then that I would rather be the best actress who ever lived than the most famous one.
If I wasn't an actress I would run a fortune 500 company.
I think when an actress marries she should leave the stage. She cannot be happy if she is married and remains on the stage. She must care more for her art or for her husband.
The theater is where I belonged; I simply wanted to be an actress my whole life.
It's important for me, when looking at a role, to decide whether or not to take the journey of that character. Will I grow as an actress? And will I grow as a person?
I think that's what's great about being an actress is you get to learn so many different things like that, like learning a little bit of Tibetan here, learning a Southern accent there.
So now I feel I'm lucky in the respect that I can sort of pick a little more carefully, which is tricky because as a black actress, there aren't that many roles to pick from.
I was 16 and standing on Tottenham Court Road when this woman came over and asked me if I was an actress. She wanted me to audition for an online drama she was directing. I had time to kill, so I thought, 'Why not?'
Having my son, I mean, I feel already that it makes me a better actress. Just the feeling and the love that expands in my being is more than I ever thought possible.
