I don't think my generation carries the weight of World War II anymore. But I've got to tell you, even if we don't really talk about it, we get reminded constantly by other people or other countries. I get offered a World War II movie at least once a week just because I speak German and was born there. I have always stayed away from it because I didn't want to be put into that box.

I come from a very small rural village in northern Germany, and being an actor never even seemed like a possibility. I thought you would have to live in a big city, or be discovered somewhere, or be born into an artistic family, which I certainly wasn't.

Sometimes you can write a great scene, but when you're actually in a situation and it doesn't work, you have to be flexible enough to make it work for you.

In Paris, I rent a bike in the street and cycle around, and in L.A. I live up in the hills so I go hiking a lot.

I'm not one of those women who thinks beauty is a curse.

Above all, I dislike vulgarity.

Modeling is so... not superficial. Well, I guess it is. But it's boring.