I wouldn't be an actor if it weren't for the English teacher I had my junior year in high school. She's the one who told me I could be an actor. I had never met an actor, I had never seen a real play, only high school plays. I didn't know actors were real, that it was a real job.

What gives you pleasure and joy? Let those be the things that lead you forward in life.

I don't consider myself very brave in any sense. I'm interested in this kind of behavior. My job is to try to make it realistic and emotionally resonant. That's the most challenging thing, to bring emotional resonance to what you do as an actor.

I read a lot, I always read. I like to be inside a story. When I started acting, even in high school, it sort of felt like that's as close as you can get to being inside a book, and I feel that way even with movies more so, because you've kind of created this imaginary world, and everybody is colluding to create it.

I've heard it said that winning an Oscar means you live five years longer. If that's true I want to thank the academy because my husband is younger than me.

Sarah Palin's real quality is that she is her own best creation.

Air pollution is terrible for our children. Every single scientist, every single doctor will tell you the same thing: Air pollution damages our children’s brains, their hearts, and their lungs.