Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?

I had this totally impossible dream of being an actress. Trust me just because I'm lucky enough to be doing this doesn't make any of this less of a pipe dream. And nothing gets my juices flowing like a really great performance. To see someone on stage I get really excited.

Actually I started to become an actress because I met someone who was just a friend and I found his life wonderful I thought Oh my god you can travel you're free you can do what you want you're the boss. And then I met an actor and I was in love with him.

I don't like being compared to anyone or being in a class with someone. I'm a teen actress and therefore I'm competing against Hilary Duff. We're different people like everyone else.

My mother was an actress and my voice teacher an incredible voice teacher. My biological father is an actor and my stepfather who raised me along with my mother is a psychotherapist. I was always supported in creative ventures.

I love films that make me react emotionally and physically when you walk out of the cinema. Two of my favorite films however have got to be 'The Tree Of Life' and 'The Piano Teacher ' which also stars one of my favourite actresses Isabelle Huppert.

My mother wanted to be a teacher when she was young and my father didn't approve of it so she fought very hard to become one. And she did it. So when I said I wanted to become an actress my mother was very supportive. She always said to me 'There's no such thing as 'can't.'

A Latin teacher told me I might make a good actress and that stuck in my memory. I did some modeling and Polanski gave me that small part.

For an actress to be a success she must have the face of a Venus the brains of a Minerva the grace of Terpsichore the memory of a MaCaulay the figure of Juno and the hide of a rhinoceros.

For an actress to be a success she must have the face of Venus the brains of a Minerva the grace of Terpsichore the memory of a Macaulay the figure of Juno and the hide of a rhinoceros.

Personality is the most important thing to an actress's success.

I like every single actor or actress in the world because we never know what the conditions are like when they are working. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and root for them like a psychotic sports fan.

When I got out of acting school I was lucky to have gotten any job at all. A lot of people hiring African American actresses - it was right after 'Roots ' and for society not me it was great. Nice richly dark-skinned people was the fashion and I was not.

Even actresses that you really admire like Reese Witherspoon you think 'Another romantic comedy?' You see her in something like 'Walk the Line' and think 'God you're so great!' And then you think 'Why is she doing these stupid romantic comedies?' But of course it's for money and status.

I think as a young actress it's very rare that you read something where you're not either 'the girl' or there to serve some romantic purpose in a male dominated cast.

Lately I did a film called All I Want for Christmas and it was well received. This gave me a new point of view and a new respect for my work as an actress.

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.

I think Europeans have enough tradition and respect for the experience and body of work of an actress that they don't sell out to the new ones.

I do think that at one time being an actress was the equivalent almost of being a prostitute. It garnered roughly the same respect. That's changed a lot thank goodness.

In England with all due respect we have some of the plainest actresses in the entire world as our greatest.

It's a paradox to be an actress living in the city taking planes all the time trying to find the right balance in this life which is not so eco-friendly and still try to respect the environment.

I wouldn't date an actress. There's only room for one actor in my life and I'm it. Too difficult. On the one hand they understand the job. But on the other hand it's very competitive within the relationship. Two actors say one becomes a mega-star and the other doesn't.

I look to longevity. I just consider myself an actress and getting good roles. If being a 'superstar' gets me good roles then that's a positive thing. But my goal isn't just to be a superstar. It's to act for a long time.

It's also a question of finding good material and interesting roles. I'm not the only actress out there and good parts just don't fall into your lap that easily. But I like most of the films I've made recently and so I'm pretty positive about the future.