"I would take up any small job on the sets, just so that I could hang around with the hope of getting noticed."

"Sure I faced the troubles and challenges that most actors and actresses face until they get noticed, but I was always confident of myself and my capabilities."

"I'm more proud of quitting smoking than of anything else I've done in my life, including winning an Oscar."

"When I'm not working, my time is really about my children."

"It was not really a career choice that I had to make. It was something I knew right from the beginning. I had to be an actress... period."

"When I was first starting out, if you were acting on television, it was a real stigma."

"After doing so many different roles, if you don't stretch yourself, there's no excitement left."

"I most often land up taking up the roles that I most detest."

"The crossover wasn't happening. TV actors were TV actors, and film and stage actors were a whole different thing. And now there's just a lot of crossover."

"I was a fighter and very determined. There was no way I was going to back out without winning."

"I wanted to be an actress. In college I was a serious feminist and very political. I was determined to get one thing out of my career and that was respect. I didn't want money. I didn't care about fame."

"A friend of mine described it this way: When they were born it was like a meteor landed in our house and blew everything apart. We had to just put all the pieces back."

"I demanded two weeks of rehearsal because to me as an actor, that's the most important time."

"I loved the stage and then grew to love the camera."

"I don't want to fight aging; I want to take good care of myself, but plastic surgery and all that? I'm not interested."

"Its only when you are a great actor and are recognised for your good work that you become famous. Unless you are in the news for the wrong reasons!"

"My heart's in really great shape thanks to spinning classes."

"Competition is very good... as long as its healthy. It's what makes one strive to be better."

"I am an actress and acting is my passion... period!"

"I think all industries are sexist in nature and I don't think the film industry is any different."

"And that's why I chose on purpose not to have a death scene. We've seen them in a million movies and it's too much like cranking the tears out. I didn't want that scene."

"Television really does offer still great parts for women, cable in particular."

"Theatre is more exciting in the sense that you can actually see the audience in the eye. You know there are no takes and retakes. You have one chance to do your job... and you better do it well!"