I learned, having played Marcia Clark, what the value of that is in your life because it can affect everything, every choice you make, the way you deal with a stranger on the street, or your best friend or lover. It's a powerful thing to know yourself and to have the commitment and the courage to let that be your guide.

I have friends say, "Don't you want to have a little you?" The jury's still out on that for me. I don't have a definitive answer, but I do know that I can look back on some of the things I've worked on and some of the things that have literally come out of my imagination and be just as proud of it as if I had created a person. I feel like that shouldn't be of any less value. It can't be because it's what my life is, and I don't want to make it smaller or more palatable just because society tells you to. If you can get comfortable with sacrifice, then you are having it all.

I will do plays as long as they're interested in having me do them. It's the biggest opportunity to learn the most about how to act. Something I discover every time I'm doing one is how little I know about acting - how important the art of listening is, and how important it is to listen with your entire body. You can tell so much of a story with stillness, and a lot of that can be from really actively listening to your scene partner.

I'm addicted to routine. I don't know if that's because I moved around so much as child - by the time I was 12 years old, I had lived in about 10 different places. But I like going to the theater at a certain time.

There are rules, and when certain things happen, there are ceratin consequences.

I do like the immediacy of audience's reaction. I like when I can hear the stillness and I know that they're with us.

The idea of being on a show where each season stands alone, and you can come back the next year and show an entirely different aspect of your personality or your talent or your anything is an enormous gift that you rarely get in television.