Everything that we criticize young actresses for, they're supposed to do because that's when we're supposed to make mistakes. And find out who we are.

Every time an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women... And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film.

I spent a lot of the last five years on a set, and every once in a while you take stock of your life and look at what you're doing.

Someone doesn't think immediately, "I want to be a lobbyist."

I have problems because I'm very expressive, and usually red lipstick gets on my teeth and face.

One comment by a female lobbyist really shocked me. She said, "Washington is a contact sport." I asked, "What do you mean by that?" And she just said, "Well, it's all men - and they're very contact-y. They touch a lot." Women say that's just part of the game.

It's tough, acting. You have to walk two lines of a tightrope. There's the all-consuming fear of failure: I'm about to fall flat on my face. There's that and there's also confidence - you have to be confident in order to try things - and they fight each other all the time.