Anna Paquin

Well, the years from 10 to 20, when your body, mind and everything is like changing every five minutes, can be pretty torturing. And most of the interesting characters, I think, are somewhat tortured or torturous. I'm 20 now, so I'm only just an adult.

Everyone is usually screwed up in some way and that is usually where the work comes in - figuring out how to make it believable and make it real to present someone's problems that you don't necessarily actually know anything about.

It's great to have the freedom to enjoy your work and not feel like you're leaving your other life behind.

Just because I do what I do doesn't mean I escaped adolescence, all the bumps and bruises that go along with it.

I have a really, really, really normal family. And by normal I mean we're all nuts on some level. I think you've gotta be a little nuts to pursue any kind of creative job. I was also a really good kid. I know that sounds really dull, but I didn't rebel in the traditional sense.

Like most people my age, my job is the main focus of my life. I don't have some kind of jet-setting fabulous lifestyle where I'm constantly in situations to acquire amazing anecdotes, that's it.

There are very few films or plays or anything about really happy people with perfect lives.

I still don't really think about acting that much. I just do it.

While I have always, felt like an outsider, it's because of the professional choices I have made, so it's not like I am planning to throw myself a giant pity party.

I think it's an amazing quality to be able to roll with the punches and not be totally ruined as a person because life's been rough for you. That's a really admirable way to go through your life.

I don't know when acting came to be more about awards than about the work. Judging who's better than the other person shouldn't be part of why we're doing this job. It should be about entertaining people.

You gain and lose different things in different mediums or different sectors of different mediums. There are liberties you get on tiny indie films in terms of not having to be designed toward a marketing demographic.

If I don't do laundry today, I'm gonna have to buy new clothes tomorrow.

I think, generally, most people can't maintain anything that's particularly strict for very long. I watch people trying and failing to do that a lot.

My sexuality is something I'm completely comfortable with and open about. There's a lot of prejudice toward us but the more people talk about it, the less of a big deal it will be. And that will be better for everyone.

I'm Anna Paquin. I'm bisexual and I give a damn.

I don't know what it is that I'm doing, but I'm really enjoying myself. And I'm free to do it as much as I want.

I was never overexposed and work never became a chore. I was a very good girl wanting to do a good job.

I'm drawn to doing interesting stuff at work. And some of the time with the supernatural, you get to do really crazy, fun things. But I'm not a big genre-fantasy gal, particularly.

Everything about being a teenager and not feeling like you fit in is just magnified by being a mutant!

I work out like a maniac and I spray tan a lot. Genetics were kind, but I work very hard.

We all had to learn Southern accents. It wasn't a big research show. With the 'Wounded Knee' project, I locked myself in my apartment with history books so I would know what we're talking about.

You find happiness where you find it.

I'm so organised. I never screw up. I've done it maybe twice before. I check my calendar seven times a day.

I've never really been one of those girls who's scared of showing a bit of flesh.

Stubborn people get themselves in a lot of trouble, but they also get things done.

I get paid to do the thing I love most, and maybe that makes blending into the crowd impossible sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

None of the characters I've played are really like me. That would be boring. That wouldn't be acting.