I don't think any of us could have possibly anticipated how successful Mad Men has been. When we were working on the pilot, we loved it. We thought it was special. We hoped and prayed it'd be a success. But, we didn't count on it.

One day you're there and then all of a sudden, there's less of you. And you wonder where that part went. If it's living somewhere outside of you. And you keep thinking maybe you'll get it back. And then you realize it's just gone.

There's nothing like getting yourself into character and seeing a different person. It really wears on your vanity.

Twitter scares me. I think it's so amazing, like the internet in general, because of the connection that it gives people. But the concept that one 140-word post can change someone's life . . . that scares me. You can literally ruin someone's life with one tweet. So I only do Instagram. I love photography . . . and interacting with the fans. I do love hearing from them. I try to answer questions if I can.

If I'm not like my characters, I think just it's like a musician liking to play certain pieces of music rather than others. I just have more satisfaction when playing complicated things rather than some of your more straightforward, simple moments. . . . I like to be challenged.

I think one of my biggest influences is Bette Davis. I've seen almost every one of her films, and she's been very inspiring to me.

Anytime you have a female protagonist, it's going to turn into some feminist angle, and it's not a conscious thing on my part. It's only recently that that's been pointed out by the media . . . or pointed out by fans. I also find complicated, flawed characters interesting. What's the opposite? To play one-dimensional, boring failures?