I've played a lot of mothers in my movies.

As an actor, you're sort of the court-appointed lawyer for the character.

You earn very little money on independent films and I'm the provider for my home, so I do have to think of taking one for the accountant time and again and that means studio pictures.

I feel my fuller-bodied characters are all in the independent films I do, and in the studio productions, I have to work harder to dimensionalize the characters. And that's certainly part of the job description of an actor - that's what you're supposed to do - but you have to work harder at it in the characters that I've encountered in studio films.

I've done TV, but never where you're given this much time to live with a character, to study the tone and hone it and repair stuff, to go back and watch old episodes and go, "Oh no, that's a misstep. That's a victory. I should do more of that, less of that."

I bet you could look at every single thing I've ever done and reduce it to that parenting schematic.

No role is more challenging, rewarding and inspiring than my real-life role as a mom and a wife.