Being a famous actress may give you a sense of being important, but believe me, it's just an illusion.

I really don't think that the Oscar changed my career much because I didn't want it to.

In Iran, the women are like Italian women, they rule the house inside. But it's full of life. The history is very rich. The mystic of the Middle Ages. We have to learn from them. They influence all the philosophers when they came to Europe all those many many years ago.

George Clooney is trying his own way but he's struggling too because he has to deal with America. Yet, if he has a foot in Europe, it's not for nothing.

I don't believe in coincidence.

You have to put your ego aside as an actor. Or you're using your ego to tell the story. Your body is a part of a tool to tell the story. So if you feel something, it's wrong. It means you're not inside of the character.

I want to know why I'm alive. I want to understand. It's like exploration; it's like someone being interested in a place and its history, digging into the earth and looking for it, searching - it's a passion.