I need to work with great directors and actors, people who are better than me, so that I am challenged. It is like playing sports - surfing, basketball, it doesn't matter what it is, if you play with people who are better than you, then you get better too. It is the same thing with acting.

That's one thing about Hollywood. People don't always want what's real. People always want a little more. So for me, it's a compromise. Here you go, that hyper-reality.

Taking chances for the people you care most about is easy. It's hard to take chances that might mean making bad decisions. But when I have to take chances about people I love, relationships, my daughter and immediate family, those decisions are easy. I make them without even thinking about it, it is usually something that just has to be done. You don't question anything, you just go for it.

I'd like to live on horseback and just be a cowboy.

Michelle Rodriguez is like the most original person on the planet. She's so straight up, uncensored all the time. Be ready. I love her for that.

I think my mom put it best. She said, 'Little girls soften their daddy's hearts.'

My parents never looked at my acting as a career. They saw it as a way to help provide for the household.