I have never denied my background or my culture. I have taught my child to embrace her Mexican heritage, to love my first language, Spanish, to learn about Mexican history, music, folk art, food, and even the Mexican candy I grew up with.

No surgical tweaks. No Botox either. I think it is terrible, these girls in their late 20s injecting their faces and lips. One told me, If I kill my muscles now, I'll never get wrinkles. Can you imagine?

Sometimes evolving doesn't mean transforming; sometimes it just means owning what is there.

Sometimes I decide not to make something because I am proud and think I am better than that - and then I realise I have to pay the rent and I have to take something which is even worse than all the other stuff they offer you because you were being so proud not to take it! But you adjust and sometimes for one reason or another there is no strategy at the end but there is the ability to do the best that you can with what you have.

There has never been a female director who has won an Oscar. There has only been one woman who won at the Cannes Film Festival.

Producing is hell, writing is frustrating, acting is really satisfying, directing is heaven.

How I would describe my characters is absolutely different from how I would describe myself.