My job is to help the functioning of the story, not to draw attention to myself, but to make my characters function within the story, to work for the benefit of the story, to make the whole thing work.
What I'm doing is a dream come true but at the same time its work. It's like anything else. The only time it doesn't really feel like work to me is when I'm on stage and doing what I've prepared myself for my whole life which is to stand out in front of a crowd and sing.
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 don't just want to go out there and do my job - I want to excel at it. I hold myself to a high standard. I expect to make plays that alter the game, and if I don't, I hold myself accountable.
If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself.
I'm competing with myself first, as my aim is to improve my performance in every film.
I've been searching for ways to heal myself, and I've found that kindness is the best way.
You check to see the facts are correct where business is concerned but if I read everything that was written about me, I'd end up feeling totally insecure about myself.
In my later years, I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.
I always say that when I'm playing well, no one can beat me. I'm not just saying that to sound full of myself or anything, but it's true.
I'd call myself the mediator. I kind of just float around and do my own thing. I'm kind of chilled out, laid back.
I've done a lot of collaboration over the years, but right now I'm enjoying writing by myself and just being me again for a while.
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.
I got married at 17, had three kids by the time I was 24, and have never had much time alone. I never had time to develop hobbies. Now, if I have nothing to do, I just find myself cleaning drawers incessantly.
I like to refer to myself as 'The George Clooney of the Lane Bryant set.'
I would often find myself, at the age of 21, at midnight, running down a dark street on my own with 10 men chasing me. And the fact they had cameras in their hands made that legal.
If you stick around long enough, people start referring to you as a survivor. Suddenly I found myself on the receiving end of several prestigious awards.
As an actor, particularly because I'm - I would call myself a character actor. I change my look, my physical appearance and my body, my hair color, my whatever all the time for a role.
I never really saw myself as a standup comedian. I always just thought of myself as someone who used the eight minutes or 10 minutes she was allotted and had a blast.
In my career as an actor, there is a catchphrase that Scofield always says often in regards to his brother, 'Have a little faith.' In my own career as an actor, there were times when I was the only one who believed in myself in the face of the odds.
Every day, I wanna work on being a better person, not just to others but to myself.
I don't conduct myself like a rock 'n' roll star in my day-to-day living. Am I a celebrity? Yes. Do people recognize me on the street? Yes, they do. But at the same time, it's not a media center out here. People get used to you.
In college, I think I probably positioned myself as an aspiring writer, meaning I dressed sort of extravagantly and adopted all the semi-Byronic affectations, as if I were writing, although I wasn't actually doing any writing.
I'm in East L.A., like Mount Washington, Highland Park. There's a little strip that they're gentrifying, trying to make a hip spot, but you go there, and it's just kind of barren. Nobody hangs out anywhere in L.A. There's no loitering in L.A., so I don't know what to do with myself.
What I have known with respect to myself, has tended much to lessen both my admiration, and my contempt, of others.
It's been too many years since I've played live as myself as opposed to in a fake band for a film.
I try to keep myself on an even keel by trying to be as critical of myself as I am of other people. I try to separate my performance from myself.
Major North and myself went out in advance of the command several miles and killed a number of buffaloes.
I'm very happy with the way I look. I wake up some morning, catch myself in the bathroom mirror, and go, 'hey girl, you're alright'. But on the other hand, I find the website stuff, and the polls, something completely removed from my own personal life. You can't take anything like that too seriously, otherwise you'd end up in the loony bin.
I hate watching myself on TV.
I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write the book straight through from beginning to end. By following time's arrow, I keep myself sane.
I have a problem with cabinets being messy and people just shoving things in and closing the door. I will lie in bed and not be able to sleep because I'll say to myself: 'I think I saw something in that cabinet that just shouldn't be there.'
I think that I'm shy and I judge myself. But at the same time, I also have big contradictions. I can be sometimes sure of myself as well. I'm not always fragile and vulnerable. I can feel tough and strong.
I consider myself really lucky and I always have done. My approach is that if I know I'm relaxed and happy, then I will do my best work.
Baseball people, and that includes myself, are slow to change and accept new ideas. I remember that it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms.
I didn't want to take the guitar solos down note-for-note, but more or less use them as a map, and keep all the hooks from the guitar playing, and let myself come through.
