There's always been a shortage of roles for three-dimensional women, no matter what age. If you look at the statistics on women in film, be they behind the camera or in front of the camera, and it's pretty nauseous-making. It always has been.

I was just lucky enough to grow up in a time when they actually had drama departments in schools.

You may be a little older, or a little more neurotic, or a little more closed off. But inside, you're just the same.

There are not a lot of places for an actor to explore what it's like to be a woman in her 60s. There aren't any films about it and there very few TV series about it.

I've had such an odd career.

Don't think for one minute, whoever you are, that you're not important. You're so vitally important to stand up and be heard and do what it is you do.

I would take plays and I would cut out all the other dialogue and make long monologues because I felt the other kids weren't taking it as seriously as I did.