Quotes

[on co-star Kate Beckinsale and hoping to become friends] That was wrong. We didn't. She's complicated. She's prickly.

I live in an adult world, but I'm a kid. I love the work. But I no longer have a group of friends to hang out with regularly.

[on education vs. career] I was told that my going to college wouldn't be good for my career. I think that's nonsense. It's good to empower yourself by cutting yourself off from this business every once in a while.

I have a huge, active imagination, and I think I'm really scared of being alone; because if I'm left to my own devices, I'll just turn into a madwoman.

My line about Arnold Schwarzenegger is that he doesn't get in his own way. He is not apologetic about achieving his goals. And when you have that attitude, it's amazing what one can accomplish. He wanted to give me relationship advice. I was having trouble with a female friend, and he said, "Be really forthright and do not accommodate her needs excessively." I took his advice and we're not friends anymore. So there you go.

[on Stage Beauty (2004)] I was intimidated. There was the accent, the period of the film, and I had to act badly. I kept laughing during those scenes because I was god-awful. I've worked so hard to be good, and now I had to work even harder to be bad.

It's very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it's fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.

I had an unwavering focus. My parents never condescended to me. As a child, I always sat at the head of our dinner table. I was always given a lot of responsibility. It was all rather amazing when I think about it now.

I was a very confident child. I knew I wanted to be an actress from the age of 5. Madonna was my original muse -- around 5, I saw her perform on television, and I realized that performing could be one's vocation. Then, at 7 or 8, I realized that most actors don't make a lot of money, and I amended my plan. But at 9, I seized my destiny. I made a formal announcement to my parents that I had to be true to my art. Money or no money, acting is my calling.

I never thought of myself as a child actor. I knew I was a kid, but they weren't related. There was nothing I could do about being a kid, and meanwhile I was an actress, and I had something to say in my acting.

I think that everybody wants to create, to do something that feels genuine and kinetic and spontaneous. I think actors want to surprise themselves. When it's really good, you kind of transcend yourself, and that happens infrequently. Very, very rarely. You might get one or two of those moments on a film, say, and sometimes they don't even use the takes where that happens. And I'm not really that moralistic about how you get there.

[December 21, 2005, on having children] I would like to have a family, but I'm trying not to make any plans, because when I do, everything goes wrong.

[on her notorious swimsuit scene in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)] I'll never wear a thong again. I'm a Speedo gal.

[on her non-stop work schedule] Usually, my social life and my sanity and my health are the things that are sacrificed.

The point of acting is to share, to connect. That's why I act. Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

I think people confuse fame with validation or love. But fame is not the reward. The reward is getting fulfilment out of doing the thing you love.

[on husband Hugh Dancy] He's such a cutie patootie. While relationships are work, this just didn't feel like it. It's the kind of work that feels energizing rather than enervating. I find it very freeing to know that, okay, it takes constant nurturing and attention, but I can also stop looking for the one.

[on Steve Martin] He's a great, great fucking weirdo.

[what she gained from working on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)] It made me realize I'm a professional actress.

[on Lena Dunham's series "Girls" and its central character, Hannah] Lena's power lies largely in her self-awareness and wit. Like all great comics, she has a joke ready to deflect any jeer. Hannah's pathetic declaration that she could at least be "a voice for a generation" invites and thwarts many a poisoned arrow. Lena's true power, though, lies in her transparency. She is unflinchingly, unnervingly honest. She exposes, beneath all that bare skin, a multitude of shortcomings... as vivid and raw a portrait as we have seen.

They had written Carrie [from Homeland (2011)] as bipolar without even knowing it. At first, I was concerned that it would just be a gimmick. I still am because it's fun to see crazy Carrie.

I don't know if people are meant to be together. You have to have a lot in common, choose well and be really fortunate. It's not like you're sprinkled with fairy dust. You have to believe that love will be there when you need it.

This business can be very erratic. You can be the subject of great attention, both positive and negative. You really do have to tether yourself when you're a teen star. If you don't have that tether, than you're really lost.

If you do something that you're not genuinely passionate about, it is a little soul-crushing. Just not worth it.

Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

Once you get over that peak of puberty, you hit a nice stride.

Growing up, I wanted desperately to please, to be a good girl.

But I don't know if people are meant to be together. You have to have a lot in common, choose well and be really fortunate. It's not like you're sprinkled with fairy dust. You have to believe that love will be there when you need it.