The truth is, after Boys Don't Cry, I realized how few and far between the great roles are. I am beyond thankful for finding Million Dollar Baby.

You can change your fate. You can sit back, or you can go after your life and all that you want it to be.

I like to play women who blaze trails.

I had to fight my whole life to break out of my circumstances. That's just part of my makeup.

There's so much I want to do as an actor. I feel like there's so much more that I want to achieve and that I can achieve.

My male counterpart will get paid ten times more than me - 10 times. Not double, but 10 times for the same job. We only have this much left for the female actress. I mean, there’s two genders on this Earth. Both are compelling, interesting, diverse, wonderful in all their own separate ways. And yet there’s an influx of male roles and there's just not for women.

As a performer, I don't like to play the same thing over and over. I like to play it and let it go and move on. That's also why television hasn't really been something that I've done.