Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
For a while, I was feeling so creative in motherhood that I had no longing to work. I felt that my children needed me, that I couldn't leave them for a second.
I have no major regrets. I've made the conscious decision not to look at life that way. I always try to learn something - to take something away from the situation.
I was 30 when I did 'The Matrix.' When you turn 30, your life and your world view change. I remember feeling relieved - it was like I was seeing things in a deeper way.
I don't have any huge desire to show you all that I'm not tough and strong, that I'm all feminine and soft. That's not a huge longing that I have because I know who I am.
I just can't stand the sound of my voice sometimes, or how my face looks. There are always a few times at every premiere when I just have to cover my eyes when I'm up there.
I think that Trinity's just the greatest character that I could ever play. I don't expect to ever play another woman that wonderful. I have a lot of Trinity in me, for sure.
That first year after a child, I kind of just hunker down at home - I surrender to that side of me. I don't try to get my body back or be in the world; I go the opposite way.
Where it gets clear for me about the privacy issue is with my kids because they didn't choose this kind of life. I'm an incredibly open person, though - I'll tell anyone anything.
'Chocolat' was a joy to make, as we were filming in beautiful locations in France and England. Lasse Hallstrom is such an amazing director - overall it was a wonderful experience.
I'm such a private person, and sexuality is such a private thing. A sex scene is much harder than a fight scene. It's one thing to say, 'Kick higher,' but 'Kiss harder' - that's just crazy.
When I do work, I choose to see every job as an opportunity to grow, as an actor and as a person. My favourite part of it is being part of a team, with everyone pulling in the same direction.
My husband jokes that I'll invite people over for dinner and he won't know who they are or where I met them. But in my work world, I've never really been tempted to tell too much of my story.
I'm so damn lucky to make a living acting, but it's not that I love it, not all the time. If I couldn't act, I wouldn't die. I'm much more interested in the human aspect of life than the pretend.
'Revolutions' was beyond my wildest dreams. I just really enjoyed it so much visually, the action and then the story and the characters, the beauty of that. The love in the film really inspired me.
When I did the first 'Matrix,' after it came out, I had a woman come up to me and just thank me for Trinity because she was an action writer. She said she was getting really good opportunities now.
In TV, I did scripts that were not well-written, and I learned how to make bad material okay. That's a hard thing to do; you can learn bad habits, but you can also learn to find something in anything.
I shoplifted. I was about five years old, and I took a candy from a store. We paid for three of them, but I took four, and I went home and cried. My mom took me back, and I paid for the missing piece.
I'm not a writer, so I don't know what that looks like, but I can only imagine that you get all those great minds in that room, of those particular writers that created the show, and it's going to be great.
As an actor, you really want to respect and honor the script. You want to try to be in the moment and you also realize that you're one part of a bigger picture and when they call action, you have your dance.
I remember, when I was modelling in Japan, the agency would tell us that some guy wanted to take all the girls out to dinner, and I would be the one girl who didn't go - I didn't want to go out with a stranger.
There is so much conflicting advice for mothers. Women finding out what works for them is the most important aspect. For me, being connected to myself helps me make decisions better to take care of my children.
I just love to play characters that are layered and that I can relate to in some way, even if they're completely different than me; that I can see a glimpse of humanity and something I'm interested in exploring.
Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure doesn't last, but meditating every day does.
It's an exciting time to be in television, and it's a really exciting time to be on a Netflix show. I remember when Netflix first came out, I didn't quite understand the DVD thing and why my husband was mailing it back.
If you think about 'The Matrix' and how high-concept it was, it had these incredible ideas that really penetrated people's consciousness. It really was a film of awakening. I think a lot of people woke up around that film.
I watched the entire 'House of Cards.' I couldn't stop watching it. I was staying up until 4 o'clock in the morning. I just couldn't stop... I'm crazy about Netflix. I'm excited that the world we live in is changing so much.
With scripts I've always looked at them and thought about kids, you know? Thought about the world and the impact... I won't do nudity and I never felt comfortable with that whole idea or things with huge sexual content - not my thing.
Every time I hear about a new show, and I see a show that is being created that is nothing like I've ever thought about, I just get so excited about that expansion. Because I started working when 'L.A. Law' was on. It was lawyers and cops.
When I work, obviously the material is the first and most important thing. Then the director and who I'll be working with. And then the location comes into it. Where is it shooting? Because I have a family that has to uproot to do that with me.
I tend to play strong characters and people just assume that I would want to play romantic comedies, which I would love to do, but there are other women that do it so great and they maybe couldn't do what I do, play the kind of characters that I play.
When you play a doctor, you have to look like you can do it but you don't actually go and do it. It's not like you learn how to cut open somebody and go do surgery. You have to think of a human being and not play the idea of what that would look like.
Everyone has different issues, and I think for a great deal of women, those issues are self-esteem. And for me, I really wanted to understand it and get through it because I didn't want to be an actress afraid of getting older. I refuse to live that way.
One of the things that impacted me the most was in the 12th grade. I just assumed I would get the lead in the musical. Well, I didn't get it; I got the second lead, and I was devastated... my mom said something like, 'Often the supporting character is better.'
Before that film, I was nobody. Each job I got, I was so excited. Each paycheck I got, I thought, 'Wow, I'm getting paid to act.' But 'The Matrix' gave me so many opportunities. Everything I've done since then has been because of that experience. It gave me so much.
I think we all have mechanisms that we use, each of us individually, to deal with pain that we've had or just dealing with life or whatever. Everyone's story is different, but we all have some kind of mechanism that we use to deal with stuff, that we create pretty young.
People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you're lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.
When I realised that what I do really well is play women who are tough and vulnerable, it was a moment of clarity. Many female characters either have one trait or the other, but I play both. I don't need to play characters who are like me. I can just do that with my life.
Not for one second do I not, like, pinch myself that I've had a successful acting career for 24 years. I am so grateful. But it's unfortunate that we live in a society that really puts a lot of pressure on women to look a certain way and to age a certain way. I think that sucks.
For me, I always nurse out in public. It never crossed my mind, because I was taking care of my child, and I was living my life. We need to know as women that that is normal and great and beautiful and OK. And I want to be part of that conversation - not making anyone feel wrong if they don't do it.
When I was younger and I was getting older, I remember thinking that if I couldn't do it gracefully, then I would have to quit. You know, looking at yourself aging onscreen, it can bring up stuff. It's one thing to be aging in a job where your looks don't matter, but as an actress, it's so much part of your image.
I trained for months to figure out how to ride a motorcycle. I have kind of a major fear of them. I have a major fear of going at fast speeds without any kind of protection, no helmet, an actor on the back with no helmet. I felt very afraid to do it. I love that I did it and overcame the fear and was able to do that.
I think you have to take each movie for its own value. There will be those you'll roll your eyes over and others you can't wait to see. It all has to do with the intention. If someone's intention is just to make money and exploit something for profit, then it's not good. If it's thoughtfully done, the proof's in the pudding.
People tell me I'm in a genre kind of movie, but it never crossed my mind that The Matrix was genre. To me it was about, for me anyway, my character, I had this rock outside my door which said "faith" or "believe" or something, and I remember felt like that was my key into her, into Trinity. It was like she was the heart of it.
It's extremely difficult and very challenging to be a woman in film and television. Just showing up in this business forces you to know yourself. But I learned how to deal with rejection and get tough when I was working as a model - it taught me how to put myself out there. In a way, my time modelling was a preparation for life.
I didn't quite understand the DVD thing and why my husband was mailing it back. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. But now that I'm deeply in, as a watcher of content, what a brilliant business model. As a consumer, it's empowering to choose what I want to watch and when I want to watch it. I have three small children, so I need that flexibility, in order to really get into a show. And being on a Netflix show, it's perfect timing. I feel so grateful.