My grades in high school were not very good. I was that kind of perfectionist that figured if you can't do it perfectly, why do it at all?

I consider my relationship with acting in Hollywood as sort of a mutual breakup. Through puberty, Hollywood didn't really want me anymore, and I was like, 'Yeah, I don't really want you, either.'

My mother died when I was young, and I was filming all the time. I was all over the place. Acting was the one constant.

Danny DeVito later told me that he knew he wanted me for 'Matilda' the second I walked in the door. I'm not sure if this is true, or if he was just being nice, but I was thrilled when I got it.

People like to make children into little grown-ups.

I was such a nerd. It just wasn't something I would have wanted. And I didn't want to act like an adult.

I didn't trust adults because I thought they were all kind of corrupted. I thought children were pure and innocent, and that was inherently better. I guess I was a philosophical child.