I was born and grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, a small town of about 6,000. It was farm country, and this was the little county seat.

The thing I always thought of myself as was an actress. I never thought: I want to be. It was always: I am.

New York, oh my God, in my early 20s. I felt, this is home, this is really where I belong.

My whole thing is, I collect what I know I want to read, and I have certain bookshelves in my bedroom that contain all the books I haven't read yet.

It's in my nature to feel, 'I could be this! This could be mine!'

I had three influential teachers. The first was Uta Hagen. The second two, Bobby Lewis and my late husband, Charles Kakatsakis, were both from the Actors Studio.

Filming is physically and emotionally hard, especially acting in something like this, where we go into the honest feelings of these people. But it's also very exciting because there's an adrenaline that's pumping (through you) when you're doing these scenes.