Working on "Pieces of April" with Peter Hedges at a young age was really very powerful. It was a different kind of work. We shot that in 10 days and Peter was right there with us, right next to the camera. It was very grounded and I really liked working that way. I liked the way he directed us.

Pretty, and you may be talented, but nobody will remember that if you're mean.

I felt so proud to be having a baby and so excited. And I felt closer to other women - to my sisters, to my mom. I felt empowered, like, 'I've given birth. I did it! There's nothing I can't handle.' I've really enjoyed this time that I have taken to be with Suri, as well as the challenges of the first couple of months: feeding and pumping, learning to decipher what each cry means - is she hungry? Is she tired? Does she need a fresh diaper? - and figuring out how to really help her.

Definitely trust yourself. Work hard. Be honest with yourself. And life can be joyful. It is joyful. Just give it your all and it's all going to work out.

I used to get so worried that if a scene didn't go a certain way, then it was horrible. But then I realized that it was better to give the director options in the editing room than just being locked into how it's supposed to be.

My norm for watching scary movies, what I love about it, is when they work and they scare me, which is not that often I'm afraid. The more you know the genre, your taste becomes a little more rarefied and you take a very particular route to the type of movies you like in the genre. But I still get scared.

It's actually great to shoot far away from Hollywood because we don't have the distractions of the parties and premieres and all that. And, of course, you can save money - there are no good shoe stores.