I wanted so badly to study ballet, but it was really all about wearing the tutu.

You know, Mamet is not a huge writer of female parts. Most of his movies don't even have women in them, so I'm lucky I'm in it at all.

I eat like a horse!

Focusing on the way I look makes me uncomfortable. I try to focus on the way I feel - I know what makes me feel better about myself. Reading my child a story makes me feel great, doing my hair nicely doesn't.

For a while I was on the cover of every Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which was regarded as the pinnacle of success in America.

I choose movies, I never choose roles. I look at the script. I look at the director. I look at the other actors - and then the role.

I don't like everybody knowing what I'm doing, unless it's related to a movie. I don't like speaking to the press. I never did.

Having children is my greatest achievement. It was my saviour. It switched my focus from the outside to the inside. My children are gifts, they remind me of what's important.

I feel beautiful when I'm at peace with myself. When I'm serene, when I'm a good person, when I've been considerate of others.

People in the fashion industry have used the press a lot more than people in the film industry, because you have nothing to sell except for the image: The image is everything.

Acting and modeling have nothing to do with each other.

As long as people want to see me in movies, and as long as I find it interesting, I'll keep working.

Being a public person doesn't necessarily mean you're a piece of meat for everybody.

I like to make movies I like to watch.

The image is where you have dinner at night, who you're seeing. It's what car you drive and how you dress. People in the industry sell that, and it creates a dream. There's nothing else.

If I have a choice between putting my kids to bed and going to a party, I'll put my kids to bed. If I have a choice of going to a restaurant or having friends round, I'll have friends round. Every time.

Anyway, I believe you don't fix the inside by putting something on the outside.

A celebrity name is never enough for an intelligent mass market... truly successful businesses are born of passion and heartfelt interest.

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.

I used to wear heels because I wanted to show people I wasn't ashamed of being tall. But I don't wear them any more because you don't have to wear heels to be beautiful. I can't even remember the last time I wore heels.

I wanted so badly to study ballet, but it was really all about wearing the tutu.

I went to America on holiday when I was 17 and, before I knew it, I'd been signed up by an agency and had these obligations I didn't understand, but which I couldn't say no to. This industry chose me. But I did choose to make it fulfilling.

For me, just being on the cover of a magazine wasn't enough. I began to think, what value is there in doing something in which you have no creative input?

It's not vanity to feel you have a right to be beautiful. Women are taught to feel we're not good enough, that we must live up to someone else's standards. But my aim is to cherish myself as I am.

But I do know focusing on the exterior doesn't make me happy. If I want peace and serenity, it won't be reached by getting thinner or fatter.

I've done all this stuff because it's fun. It's never been about fame.

I just happen to like the work. I like preparing for a role. I like reading. I like analyzing. I like literature. I like emotions. I like working with other actors.

I don't believe we own our children, they're their own souls who make their own choices, we just guide and support them.

I try to focus on eating seasonally and organic whenever possible. It can be a challenge, but it has a huge effect on my weight, my health, and the environment.

Its not vanity to feel you have a right to be beautiful. Women are taught to feel were not good enough that we must live up to someone elses standards. But my aim is to cherish myself as I am.

Im very fortunate because were committed to co parenting our children together.

I feel beautiful when Im at peace with myself. When Im serene when Im a good person when Ive been considerate of others.

Having children is my greatest achievement. It was my saviour. It switched my focus from the outside to the inside. My childen are gifts, they remind me of what's important.

If you're wearing lingerie that makes you feel glamorous, you're halfway there to turning heads.

Dance is very, very old. With Louis XIV at Versailles is where ballet started.

I wanted to be a ballet teacher.

Classical ballet will never die.

I've got no plans to be a ballet dancer at the moment.

When life takes me on a new journey, I simply remember the smile my first ballet recital put on my face and I move forward.

Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.

The moment the curtain rose on that first ballet, I knew something wonderful and new had come into my life. I can still see the first scene. The ballet was Divertimento No. 15.

My grandmother had a Miss Margaret's School of Dance to teach tap and ballet to kids, but I never studied it. I was raised a Mormon and they're dancing fools. It's the only vice they have - dancing.

The real beauty of it - key to my life was playing key chords on a banjo. For somebody else it may be a golf club that mom and dad put in their hands or a baseball or ballet lessons. Real gift to give to me and put it in writing.

My background is somewhat unusual, as I trained to be a ballet dancer. I worked in the theatre for eight or nine years as a contemporary dancer. But as an actor one does read Shakespeare and does try to learn the classics.

However, the moral center of New York City, I believe, is the New York City Ballet.

I have ballet class every other day for two hours. And for "Six Feet Under", last week there was a sequence where I had to do a whole choreographed dance number, so I had four hours of dance practice every day.

I do take class because I still dance, and yes, I do slip into class with the Royal Ballet from time to time.

And it is always Easter Sunday at the New York City Ballet. It is always coming back to life. Not even coming back to life - it lives in the constant present.

It's no good running a pig farm badly for 30 years while saying, 'Really, I was meant to be a ballet dancer.' By then, pigs will be your style.