Where I am now, you're very much at everybody else's mercy. You have no control over your career in a lot of ways. It's just important to know what your own goals are, because that's empowering.

You see someone on the street wearing an outfit and then it's on the cover of a magazine. I love. But, you know, I'm Australian, so I'm not too flashy or glitzy.

The British are so funny. It's like they can't believe I lived in Hackney. 'You could live in Bondi Beach. Why would you want to live in 'Ackney?' But Hackney's fantastic. I'm serious. There are so many artists there. I loved the markets, the parks, the pubs, the diversity. It was a cultural melting-pot.

I've always thought of myself as more of a character actress. I've tried to do different things, but I've always been under the radar and that's how I like it. I've been really blessed to work this long and I just hope I continue to get better and better and better and better.

Where I am now, you're very much at everybody else's mercy. You have no control over your career in a lot of ways. It's just important to know what your own goals are, because that's empowering.

Being an actor is mostly about rejection and being out of work. It was a fast lesson in all of that stuff.

I loved performing; I was always trying to impress my siblings by being a clown. I think that came from being the runt of the litter.

I tend to spiral out of control if I'm not working. I get panicked and don't know what to do with myself.

I often do very serious roles, but really I am a big clown.

I'm ambitious but I'm not particularly competitive. I'll try to get roles, as I think it's healthy to go for things, but... I think there's too much competition between women already. It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.

They think I'm depressed because I look serious in photos. It's usually because I'm just nervous. But I've stopped dressing for other people. If I think I look good, that's the most important thing.

TV is very much a producer and writer or creator-driven machine in the States. And I'm the kind of actor that needs to be pushed and have someone on my case a little bit, so I suffer from that.

All forms of contact are good: letters, parcels, e-mails - I've been trying to get a Webcam for my computer, but I'm such a Luddite.

Art, a book, a painting, a song, can definitely inspire change, whether it's a small change or a big change but you know there's novels I've read or a scene in a film that I've seen where I definitely inspired something and made a change or addressed an issue in my life or done something cliche like make a phone call.

At a certain point, I got into the older, cooler crowd, and they listened to hip-hop. I was desperately trying to fit in.

Here in L.A. the standard of beauty is kind of ridiculous. I want to be doing this when I'm in my fifties and sixties and this isn't what I'm going to look like.

I liked the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest and Cypress Hill.

I see myself more as a character actress than a celebrity.

I think its important to keep an element of fear about yourself because it makes you appreciate the jobs.

I used to go to rave parties, too, but I was never savvy with techno.

I'm in love with the city. You can impress an Australian with a city, but you can't impress them with a beach.

I'm the youngest of four, and I'm always the clown - making the jokes, wanting attention.

I've already started saying that I'm 30 when I'm still 29. That way, I'm already there.

It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.

My parents were so relaxed by the time I was growing up that I got away with a lot more.

The British are so funny.

There's a lot of intensity when you're on a set. And then it just goes away and no one's giving you attention or flooding you with compliments.

My mother keeps things in perspective for me. She makes me realize that the acting I do and love is no more important than what one of my brothers does-he works in a shoe repair shop. If my career ever tapers off, I'll go to college.

An unexpected benefit of my career in biochemistry has been travel.

I'm sure once my career's over, when I look back when I'm older, I can maybe appreciate it a little bit more.

In Hungary, acting is a career for which one fits himself as earnestly as one studies for a degree in medicine, law, or philosophy.

I have been driven demented in my career.

The blues is something separate from what I do. They connect at certain spots, but blues is different. I wouldn't put it in with what my career has been. That would be a whole separate wing.

I wanted to be an actress. In college I was a serious feminist and very political. I was determined to get one thing out of my career and that was respect. I didn't want money. I didn't care about fame.

It could be my downfall, but I don't think it is - Hollywood is run on perception, and if you stray off the path of what you want to do with your career, it's suicide.

Those who joined us for selfish personal reasons, for a career or other motives will be the ones to leave.

Warren Beatty took an interest in my career at one point.

I knew an actor's career goes up and down and back up again. Your standing in this business can't be your whole identity; otherwise, you're doomed.

The biggest break in my career was getting into the Beatles in 1962. The second biggest break since then is getting out of them.

Sometimes you get caught up in what's going on around you. The reality is that you are just a regular person. At some point, the career will be over, the bright lights turn off. That can come back to haunt you if you're not just a regular guy.

The truth is, it's not a great career move to create a readership and then, in effect, abandon them.

I grew up wanting to make movies, and along the way I suddenly found that I had a career doing comedy.

Music is the career I'm lucky enough to get paid for, but I have other desires and passions.

I think to just single out a highlight of Elvis's career is pretty much impossible. As far as being a fan of his, a lifetime fan, there were just too many highlights.

Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman's natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.

I have probably purchased fifty 'hot tips' in my career, maybe even more. When I put them all together, I know I am a net loser.

I've spent my career trying to help people without connections understand what's going on so that they have a chance of getting a fair shake from the connected and the powerful.

If I had my career to play over, one thing I'd do differently is swing more. Those 1,200 walks I got, nobody remembers them.

Superstar was made so early in my career I had nothing to do with it at all. The first time I saw it was the opening screening.