I'd already made the decision before I'd even read it-just because it was John Sayles. Then when I read it, the themes were actually themes that have been a big part of my life.

I was this person with this weird last name from New York that no one had ever heard of. But my screen test I guess, according to him, was the best. So I got the part, which was incredible.

It's usually, my people speak to your people and then they speak around each other and trade calls for weeks.

I think that we need to look hard at our beliefs and be responsible about how we speak out.

I helped found Artists for New South Africa, but it used to be called Artists for Free South Africa. Alfre Woodard and a bunch of us started this.

It was a few days later I came out to Hollywood for a screen test, and so did a lot of other people. So, I really didn't think I would get it. I was definitely the one that was least likely to get it, because everyone else was an already established star.

I'd already made the decision before I'd even read it-just because it was John Sayles. Then when I read it, the themes were actually themes that have been a big part of my life.

Anything to do with the South resonates with me, because I'm Southern.

There's a certain arrogance to an actor who will look at a script and feel like, because the words are simple, maybe they can paraphrase it and make it better.

I know this is kind of corny, but we thought about renewing our vows again because I think my mom would really love it if we did that in Arkansas, where I came from.

There's just such a premium on hurrying, and the camera is the be all and end all, and the actors had better hurry up and get it right and get it done.

I take the fact that films cost a lot of money very seriously, but once in a while to have somebody say, This is a big scene, take your time with it, is important. That's John Sayles.

'Justified' had such dead-on beautiful scripts that you didn't want to mess with it.

'Step Brothers' is probably the film the most people who approach me want to talk about.

1977 is the year I made my first movie. Shortly after, I was offered quite nice roles in television. The general consensus among everyone was that I'd be out of my mind to do that.

Acting was far from my world. I rarely saw a play. I never met a real actress; they seemed unreal.

Anytime I had a date, it was at the Sadie Hawkins Day dance.

As an actor, you're always looking for, what do I get to do? It's not just what do I say, but what do I do, too.

At one point, I kind of looked in the mirror and said, 'You know, you're a mom. You're a wife. People count on you; you can't go off the deep end into this kind of crazy musical swirl.'

Christopher Lloyd was actually the first person - or certainly one of the first few - who ever spoke to me on film.

Do I feel like I still need to prove myself? Absolutely. And I want to feel that way, and I like that.

Essential oils are extremely important to me.

Every child in America fantasizes about running wild in the White House for a few minutes.

For me, acting has often been solitary. You're all together, and then boom, you're gone.

Hey, it's a miracle to have a career in Hollywood. But it doesn't begin to sum me up.

I actually believed if I behaved myself and if I made straight A's and if I was good enough, I could save my dad's life. And every single time he had a heart attack, I knew what I had done that caused it.

I am lucky enough not to have to take jobs unless I love the material.

I decided if you're lucky enough to be alive, you should use each birthday to celebrate what your life is about.

I did 'Philadelphia' and 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?' at the same time. It's kind of wonderful to do it that way, because you get very hyper-focused.

I did sing in a choir for a while, but if anybody was sick, I always whispered my songs to make sure nobody could pick out my voice.

I didn't work for a year and a half after 'Melvin and Howard' because all I was being offered was silly parts.

I don't consider myself much of a singer. I'm a writer first.

I don't know how I could plan my career.

I don't know if I've ever read a movie that's as strange and unpredictable and hilarious and wonderful as the stuff we're doing on 'The Last Man on Earth.' It's jaw-dropping every week when I get a script, because it goes to such strange places.

I don't want to go to just watch big huge summer movies that everybody predicts is going to be the big huge summer movie and that are all the sort of blow-them-up movies or whatever you want to call them. I think there are a lot of other people out there, too, that want an alternative.

I don't worry when I go away for a while. I think there is a place for me. It may not be at the top of the heap. But that doesn't bother me, either. I think I will always be able to get work - which is the only thing I have ever really been interested in.

I feel like I'm attracted to characters who have one foot firmly planted on the ground. And their heads up in the clouds somewhere. Practical dreamers. They try to impress you that they've got this whole thing figured out, but there's more going on inside their heads than you might imagine.

I got my SAG card on my first movie, 'Goin' South,' with Jack Nicholson in 1978.

I grew up believing in Santa Claus, and we still treat our house at Christmas with a huge reverence for that belief - even though our children are 19 through 23.

I had two wonderful teachers: Sanford Melsner and Fred Kareman.

I have hundreds of songs.

I have never been able to sing in the shower, much less in front of anybody.

I have never had any success in planning my life, really.

I know that's why I became an actress. In my dream world, I could get mad and scream and yell, and if somebody died, they got up again. In real life, I didn't dare try it.

I learned not to care what other people think.

I learned so much about life and other human beings - then about myself.

I like being part of a team.

I love to paint. And I have another profession - an interior design business.

I love to play horrible, evil, mean people.