I love things that are indescribable, like the taste of an avocado or the smell of a gardenia.

What is dangerous about the far right is not that it takes religion seriously - most of us do - but rather that it condemns all other spiritual choices - the Buddhist, the Jew, the Muslim, and many others who consider themselves to be good Christians. The wall of separation between church and state is needed precisely because religion, like art, is too important a part of the human experience to be choked by the hands of censors.

I go by instinct - I don't worry about experience.

I love road trips! My husband and I love that. We bought a truck with a bench seat so we could put the dog in the middle.

I think of myself as a girl from Brooklyn.

I have one son. Of everything I've done in my life, nothing matches the feeling of having life growing inside you.

I hate tooting my own horn, but after Steven Spielberg saw Yentl, he said: "I wish I could tell you how to fix your picture, but I can't. It's the best film I've seen since Citizen Kane".