It's important for me to see as many colors in the character as possible.

In their 30s women really start to live... they're not children anymore, and they're not just mothers.

My idols are all older.

All I really want to do is entertain people out there sitting in the dark and for them to believe it.

That's where I got my start and where I'll continue to work, but I can't tell you the number of films between Drugstore Cowboy and Curly Sue that I auditioned for and wanted that didn't choose me.

I can't wait til I get the chance to be a character and how my face looks isn't the first consideration.

You learn your text and have it in the back of your head, without a thought as to how you're going to say it.

The worst thing would be for them to find out who I really am, because that's where I hide.

I think right now in the world we're feeling like there's no solid ground beneath our feet, you know?

You know, I change my hair color a lot, I do all sorts of different things.

In a collaborative environment directors hire actors because they want their input, not just their bodies.

Well, I'm a consumer as well. I go to the movies with my popcorn and believe everything I see.

The least consideration of any film I've ever worked on is who is right for it.

You look at Gone With the Wind, how right Vivian Leigh was for that. Don't know if that would happen today.

Yeah, I do feel badly sometimes, not for whose coming up and getting roles I'm not right for anymore but the people I compete with, who range from Uma Thurman on up.

But actors at a certain point take the best of what's available to them.

I just think we're living in a time of massive, amazing change, like the Industrial Revolution on acid.

I've been overwhelmed; I was a single mother for a time.

I don't care what people's myths are about me.

It's important for me to see as many colors in the character as possible.

I mean, I always feel incredibly lucky to get a job.

Cause I won't repeat myself, the way I dress and look.

If it's independent, it's because I love it... 'cause they usually end up costing me money to do.

I like to show as much of a woman as I can. I like to fill things out.

It's part of the fun of it to work with strong personalities.

The fact that I got Drugstore Cowboy at all was a fluke.

I make a good living and I've never looked at myself as being an artiste.

My whole career is based on taking a left turn after each film and doing the opposite of what I've just done.

And sometimes I do films so my daughter can see me work.

Most movie stars don't change their look at all.

I do come shackled with whatever people think I am.

Well, for someone who looks like me you wonder where Alfred Hitchcock is.

In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied; and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair of lovely blue eyes.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

But even with a character like Cary who is relatively outlandish, at the end of the movie he's in a place where I wouldn't have expected him to be - taking on the responsibility of a woman who is pregnant and who used to be his best friend's wife.

Always, your work is the same: You have to tell a story, you have to make a character. It doesn't matter if there are thousands of dollars, millions behind it, or if there is nothing.

Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do.

I liked Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and that is the kind of character that I would like to have played. That would have been more in tune with who I really was.

It's the difficulty we had with Mr. Bean, actually, when it went from TV to film. You certainly discover that you need to explain more about a character.

In a lot of ways, the make-up was the character.

The more we study the Indian's character the more we appreciate the marked distinction between the civilized being and the real savage.

So many people have said that to me, that what they really like about Alex is what she brings out in Marissa, and what this situation brings out in her, a hint of happiness and another side to her character.

I've been on the show for six years and I don't even know what her history is. I sort of make things up in my mind, but I think it's hard for an audience to follow and invest in a character when they don't have the details.

It is not true that drink changes a man's character. It may reveal it more clearly.

Because I killed a guy in real life, and because my character kills a guy onstage, they said I could never do anything this great again. I resented that.

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

I just kind of understood it, and I threw my love for others and love for life into the character, and was having a blast. I loved playing Dharma. I loved it!

I think if you play a character that is fearless, then it's boring. I think that's what was so incredible about Harrison Ford, is that he always seemed like he was never going to survive it, he's always scared, and yet he always does survive it somehow.

If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself - your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers.