Our parents more or less just kind of wanted us to pursue our passions. Whatever they would have been, they would have helped light the fire. They are very liberal, artistic people, but they didn't force us into acting. They let us find our own ways.
The Midwest isn't somewhere you mix with those from the performing arts. But my mum and dad would go off to Chicago every so often to see shows. They would bring back the albums and the movies, those little eight metres, and we would all watch. I think that was when I fell in love with acting.
Acting is a whole boatload of fun, but I prefer to do it on my own terms.
The basic answer is that I wasn't happy or fulfilled by the job I had and I wanted my life to mean something to me, so I searched my life experience and realized that acting and performing were activities that I enjoyed all aspects of.
When I was a kid, I was into psychological thrillers. When I was 12, my favorite movie was 'Thirteen.' I just really liked movies that showed an extreme range in acting. That's what made me want to become an actress.
I was one of those kids who thought I could be the president of England when I grew up if I wanted to. Then I started acting and realized life is hard, and people are mean. And there's no president of England, and I'm not British.
When I first started acting in movies - as probably a lot of naive young actors do - I made a list of directors that I wanted to work with and sent it to my agent at the time.
When I'm acting, it's like I am the character - no one can talk to me. But I'm not so method I'd sell my house and live on the street to play a tramp.
I learn the techniques and then take what I need. I have the Essie Davis technique of acting. I'm an instinctive actress.
Good acting should teach people to understand rather than judge.
One of the things I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn't reveal your own personal story.
In terms of showing their emotions and acting on them, my women characters are a lot more advanced than the men.
I fell completely in love with acting. I guess I was bitten.
That's the thing about film acting and television acting. You just release yourself and do what is true for the moment, and ignore everybody and everything and all the technical razzmatazz that goes on.
My first ten years in Hollywood were really tough. I'd be coaching friends who came to me for acting advice, and then they'd make it before I did. I'd still be helping them while they were on movie sets and I had four lines on a TV show.
I suddenly think the job of acting is a difficult one. It's not as flip, irrelevant and shallow a calling as I thought it was in the Eighties.
Acting is a general thing; it's not like being a primary artist like a painter or writer which stands the test of time. I don't think acting stands the test of time, but it can capture the mood of the moment, which is in itself very exciting, but it rarely lasts.
I go to acting class, and in acting class, I'm not the girl that brings in romantic comedies; I'm the girl that wants to do 'Girl Interrupted' all the time.
When I'm on an adult set and I'm in a scene, I am myself. I'm not acting. I am playing to the camera, definitely, but I am myself.
If your character is just out there acting a fool, viewers are gonna say, 'Why am I watching this?' But if he's whispering, 'I don't really want to die,' there's a level of vulnerability cemented in these bad characters.
Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like.
I left acting in the summer of 1988 because I was unhappy with a lot of the irresponsibility that was going on in the entertainment industry.
Some of the best times I've ever had in my life have been because of acting and through acting. But I'm not interested in the game of acting and being an actor and auditioning and all that stuff.
My style was always intuitive. I never used to believe in working on your body. Anything that smacked of vanity to me was bad for your acting, but I learned that wasn't true.
I started acting pretty young, so I haven't had too many odd jobs. But I used to sell candy out of my locker in middle school.
In the acting game, you spend a long time fighting against what the director perceives you to be. And half the time the directors don't know.
People think of me as a privileged young girl born to wear a chiffon party dress. I was born into a big acting family, and although I absolutely adore them, it's taken me time to work out how or where I feel comfortable.
I come from an acting family, my father was an actor, and I had to fight my way and just create my own identity.
There's good movies and there's bad movies. The genres are never dead, it's just about how to apply them and articulate them and execute them - the story, the quality of the writing, the acting, the design elements, the directorial execution - all these things make it what it is.
Acting and making art is just something I love to do, and I love to tell stories that feel important, honest and necessary.
I'm really not interested in acting as a facade, I'm interested in it as an emotional expression and as a transcendent experience for an individual. I find that a lot of people, a lot of young actors, haven't gotten to the point where they're comfortable being stripped down. They're still interested in ornate jackets.
I can't say that I haven't done some bad acting in my time. I have. Usually that involves what we actors call 'indicating,' when you twirl your mustache.
After high school, I was going to move out to L.A. and try to pursue my dreams of acting. My parents said, 'That's fine. We support you, but you have to go to school,' which was fine because I'm a studious person anyway; I enjoy it.
I can walk into a room and create a good ambience. I was taught all about this back when I studied acting. One of the things they would teach you is how to send out positive signals when you enter a room. I am glad I learned this.
I love to work. I know that sounds ridiculous to say because all people love to work, but I love the homework that goes into acting. I love figuring out different ways of playing a scene. I love the energy of being on set. I love not getting enough sleep because I have to wake up early in the morning.
I can't imagine doing anything except acting.
