Everything seems to take on a new meaning when you become a parent and you put yourself in the shoes of the parent, not the shoes of the child.

We hurt each other because we care about each other.

I remember when I took the role on E.R., I thought, 'I haven't really been able to play a working class woman. I've played girls, I've played funny, but I haven't played a working class woman. That sounds like something I'd like to do.

One of my favorite things to do is not to speak on screen. In theater it's different because there's a lot of emphasis on language - it's a different medium. But that is one of the most wonderful things about film. A person's face can say so much more than their voice can.

I think when things happen in our lives that we can't truly understand why they destroy us, it's because we can't truly understand or communicate it to anyone else. And that is what is destructive - you can't communicate it to the people that you love and it makes things deteriorate. Or you're hiding from yourself, or you're hiding from somebody else, and that was really fascinating to me... that life isn't like the movies and you can't always point to one thing and explain why you did things that ended up hurting you.

There are not that many jobs as an actor where you don't get to know what your character will be doing from episode to episode.

You can be a woman in charge of a production and still be generous and kind and insightful and decisive without being considered a butch in any way.