It really hit home that my parents felt as though they didn't have to worry anymore. They realized if you could win an Oscar, that was a good sign.

The world is what you make of it, friend. If it doesn’t fit, you make alterations.

I was always trying to make up for my size, to compensate. So to get people to take you seriously, you have to come at things with a great deal of strength. You have to emphasize that the way you are is unusual. That you don't come along every day.

I think people have always liked in me the combination of being the underdog because I'm a tiny woman but I have enormous authority in myself.

I was a very determined kid. I couldn't imagine any other life for myself. This happens to kids who are different in any way. How am I going to make a life? Who am I going to be when I grow up? Will there be a place for me in the world? Acting gave me a sense of purpose, but it also gave me a sense that I would survive, that I would find my place.

I aspired to be extremely sophisticated.

When I was 16, nobody else talked like me. Nobody else sounded like me.