First, I was a fact checker for Zagat and then I was an editorial assistant for HarperCollins publishing house.
Anna ChlumskyDay-to-day scheduling is always a conflict. You go, "Oh, I want to go to that awards show because when am I ever going to do that again?" But then you go, "Yeah...except this other thing is more important." It's more the micro day-to-day stuff that becomes a daily task as opposed to worrying too much about the career.
Anna ChlumskyYou can ask any set decorator on any set where I've had to be in an office, I always kind of claim it - I put Post-its everywhere, and I kind of make it look lived-in.
Anna ChlumskyEven on the worst days I am without a doubt still happier doing this than I am doing anything else. On acting.
Anna ChlumskyPeople look to you to replace a part in their lives that they can't get back. You can't get the past back, you can't do it. We've all tried.
Anna ChlumskyI'm very happy to make specific choices (as an actor), (but) you can't be married to them because you never know when the writers are going to be like, "By the way, you have no brothers, you have a sister."
Anna ChlumskyThere were a lot of signs being thrown at me. A lot of angels I was meeting, inspiring me to get back into show business.
Anna ChlumskyIt was easy for me to leave acting for school, because I wasn't really in it as an adolescent for fulfilling reasons.
Anna ChlumskyBut here's the thing: I had this great job, and I would still feel terribly depressed. I would just be like, 'This isn't the sweet spot. I thought this would be it, and I don't feel happy.
Anna ChlumskyI've been poked fun of throughout my career by fellow actors for my notes that I take. I have spiral notebooks that I carry with me on every project I do, and I take notes just so that if I have to relive a scene, if I have to go back, I know what I did.
Anna ChlumskyRight now I'm just thinking about school and trying to get those grades and keep them up! In case I become a Norma Desmond when I grow up, I can have something to fall back on!
Anna ChlumskyI didn't want to go down any scarier path of low self-esteem than I was already on the track for. So during my second year of college I was like, 'I'm over it! I have to go see what this other thing called life is about!
Anna ChlumskyIn order to satirize adequately, I think you need to bring people down to Earth and be like, 'Yeah, these people drink coffee and have tummy troubles and they go to the bathroom like anybody else, and they all have relationship problems, if they even have relationships.'
Anna ChlumskyIt was more like having unwanted attention as a child - if you'd walk around, people would recognize you, and it would be in a weird, almost making-fun-type manner.
Anna ChlumskyI really don't like to do back-to-back movies. I concentrate on things at home. My family and school life are important to me. I try to do one movie a year.
Anna ChlumskyI don't let it bother me too much if someone doesn't like me. I just figure there's no accounting for taste. It's not me, it's my acting. It's like if someone doesn't like someone's food, they just don't like my acting.
Anna ChlumskyThe big difference with the recognition is that when I go on an audition, I don't feel like they're testing my abilities as much as they're just seeing if it's a fit. So that's nice.
Anna ChlumskyAn actor's responsibility is to play a character truthfully. That's their responsibility. That's where it ends. If they choose to use their reach and accessibility in order to further something that matters to them, that's their choice and that's great - but it's not for anybody to choose it for them.
Anna ChlumskyThere's a theory out there that if you're in a public profession you're fair game. I couldn't disagree with that idea more. Especially with children - half the time they don't choose to be in that profession. For people to objectify other people's lives - kids or not - I find very tedious and tiresome. People who have a craft, that's their job. Their job isn't to create fodder for other people who are bored.
Anna ChlumskyWhen I graduated from college I thought I was over with show business and was pursuing other things.
Anna ChlumskyI'm interested in current affairs and social policy as a whole, but I don't watch politics for sport.
Anna ChlumskyKids are brought into show business because they are cute and see truth and they're very bright. But there's a sense of doing it because you want the adults to be approving of you. You want to make them happy.
Anna Chlumsky