I always tried to make people laugh. I attribute that to - I come from a family of divorce. It was a way to distract myself from stuff. I always thought it was interesting that my brother and I existed in this really tight bond, and we would just take the piss out of pretty much everything. I knew I wanted to be an actor so it would be great if I could make people laugh while I was doing this, because I could be other characters and other people, and I could hide behind things. It was a great out for me, and a mode of expression.

I feel very fortunate to be currently in the position where I can choose to be an actor, writer, director, or all of them at the same time. With being a mom, I've recently had a priority shift that has sort of thrusted itself on my existence, but I tend to use all experiences as something to work with. Anything that is profoundly, energy shifting - like having a child - is fodder for creative thought.

I wrote an entire movie [Man up] about how important I think voices are, so it was funny.

I think great directors really respect their actors and vice versa. That mutual respect makes the job fun instead of anything but.

I feel very lucky that when I'm burnt out of acting I take to the pen and I write something I want to direct.

I'm vegan on home base, but when I travel to other countries, I throw it all into the garbage.

I worked with an amazing dialect coach named Jill McCullough. We did Skype sessions while I was shooting "No Escape" in Thailand, actually. So three times a week I would have long, two-hour sessions with her just working on the nuance of the accent, which I had had a huge background in because I went to drama school in England for four years.