I haven't had an orthodox career.

I mean, the only thing that matters to me is getting to the work - getting to do the work. And I don't really care where it is: whether it's on stage or on television or in film.

The roles... the deep roles that I've gotten to play have turned my course. They've changed my life experience.

There were the days when women were under contract, and they were thought of as a commodity, so they hired the best writers and a lot of them were women at the time. This was in the thirties and forties, to make product for the people who were under contract, who were their assets to the studios. But that doesn't exist anymore - and as a result, the people who are in the industry write products that interest them.

I find that’s one of the great things about acting-you have the opportunity to stand in somebody else’s shoes. Each character faces a dilemma in her life, and as an actor you’re able to step into that character’s skin, look through her eyes. You leave transformed, a different person, because once you live a little bit of someone’s life, it changes you.

I'm so vigorous, and I so take it for granted, because I've always been a real physical person.

Louis Armstrong said you have to live a life. And that's right. If you don't live a life, you don't got nothin' to come out your horn.