I like stories that are not normal, everyday lives. I don't personally seek them out, but they find me.

I liked the way my character, Shane, was first introduced. You get introduced to her through this sexual action, and I thought that was so cool and just kind of summed up what she enjoys and who she is, to a certain extent. She's a complete sexual being and the great thing is that she doesn't apologize for it. It's just who she is. We rarely see women be able to do that on television.

I went to an all-girls pre school where everyone went off to Harvard or Yale, and I had zero interest in doing so. I think they thought I was on drugs. There was a neighboring all-boys school, so we'd get together and do dumb things. It was your typical Catholic-American upbringing.

What I find very attractive, what I find sexual, are people who are unapologetic for who they are and comfortable with themselves. And I think with those two things sexual energy does come out because you're not hovering or censoring yourself, you're just being who you are. And being who you are is a very attractive quality in a person.

My biggest challenge is trust, and really believing that trust, in letting things just happen personally and professionally and trust with myself. But I'm getting better at it.

I think my comparison with Shane would be a loner. I always got the impression that she wasn't scared to be alone. She enjoys it. I can relate to that.

I like stories that are not normal, everyday lives. I don't personally seek them out, but they find me.

My best friend growing up really put the bug in my ear about acting. We created this one hour-and-a-half improv play when we were 10 or 11 and performed it at the library. We just played off each other so well and had the best time doing it and the funniest part was, we wound up having packed houses, other people loved it too.

Stage is about imperfections and working with them, whether it be from you or the audience.

I went to this tattoo parlor in the East Village and I got an outline of a violin on my lower back. They call them tramp stamps now.

I'm not thrilled that I have a tramp stamp. When you see people bend over in their really low-cut jeans, I'm like, 'Oh... that's what I have.'

Stage is about imperfections and working with them, whether it be from you or the audience

A prime minister's job is to make sure the government works for those who have elected him, and not for big corporations.

I am a sound freak. I could play around with sound forever.

Before I had children, everything about my life was devoted to Saturday Night Live.

I mean comedy is something that's very personal and people have strong opinions about.

You need a lot of luck to find people with whom you want to spend the rest of your life. Some people manage to find their soul mate. Others don't. I think love is like a lottery.

I have the most fun writing and directing. And I always choose myself as the lead actor.

Two of my favorite artists are Josh Smith and Joe Bradley. But I argued against them for years, until I grew to love them and felt stupid for my immediate reaction towards their work.

One of the very, very exciting things I have found here in L.A. is that no one talks to you about being Scottish. Whereas, if you are in London and you are trying to put films together and be a film-maker, there is a kind of unspoken sense that, if you are Scottish, you have something to overcome or else you cannot really do that project.

The pathological degree to which former Vice President Dick Cheney operated in secrecy led to government abuses that we'll probably spend years learning about.

I don't need a fantasy life as once I did. That is the life of the imagination that I had a great need for. Films were the perfect means for satisfying that need.

The country needs the political work of women today as much as it has ever needed woman in any other work at any other time.

Love is willing to become to villain so that the one who you love can stay a hero.

Bullying is a horrible thing. It sticks with you forever. It poisons you. But only if you let it.

I'd want to collaborate with Eminem, of all people. Maybe even Lauryn Hill.

History and social sciences were my interests. I was always interested in knowing how societies get organized, why there is rich and poor divide, why there are classes. I was never apolitical. I think we are all political in a way. Politics decides our day-to-day life.

Music had always been the handmaid of the Roman liturgy.

The BBC does a sterling job, but I'd like to see it do more. ITV does four arts programmes a year; it used to be 28. At least Sky, with its two arts channels, is trying.

I want kids to understand that strength doesn't come from what goes on around you. It comes from inside you, and that comes from Jesus Christ.

Timing and accuracy is really what matters at the end of the day.

I lost interest in firearms because we had a dog that was scared to death of the sound of a rifle shot.

Farm policy and food stamp policy should not be mixed. They should stand on their own merits.

People question what I thought of Oxford. Students used to talk about the 'Oxford bubble' because the place can make you feel cut off from the rest of the world. I would forget there were places like London that were not centred round libraries and essays.

I had no training in research as such, and as a consequence, I am, in a sense, self-taught.

My faith and family has helped me a great deal in that it helps me to live to a different standard.