That's the really frustrating thing, but also the fixable thing. My theory why no one notices is that that's the [women's roles] ratio thing they grew up with. It's just been that way forever, so they don't see it.

There's a verse in the Bible: 'Those who are barren have more children than those who give birth.' There are young people all over the world who come to me for advice and love. I have all the children I can handle.

Physically, it completely changed me. I found strength that I never thought I had. And mentally, I mean, it's taught me just patience and letting go, and it's really changed my whole psychological outlook, I think.

I meditate and pray all the time. The faith and respect that I have in the power of God in my life is what I've used to keep myself grounded, and it has allowed me to move away from the storms that were in my life.

Life is like a lunchroom at school. In this industry you've got little individual tables of actors, singers, rap stars, this, that, the other. But it's a big industry that also encompasses anyone in the public eye.

The truth is that there is only one terminal dignity - love. And the story of a love is not important - what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

The theatre demanded of its members stamina, good digestion, the ability to adjust, and a strong sense of humor. There was no discomfort an actor didn't learn to endure. To survive, we had to be horses and we were.

A lot of times in this business, it's so transitory - it's just 10 weeks here or there on a movie and then it's over - but to see the same people over all that time, a decade, makes you feel really safe and secure.

I'm looking forward to sproglets but, as I'm the main breadwinner, I feel I ought to capitalise on my career for a bit longer. Mother keeps telling me I should go and freeze some eggs. Not terribly romantic, is it?

I was moaning and grieving as if I lost one of my own children. It was probably one of the most real feelings I ever had on the show. I was just sitting there wailing with no lines. I was beat after that storyline.

It's depressing and scary, but he needs to know the world around him because he's fourteen now and in two years he's going to drive. He needs to know what goes on out in the world. I'm not going to always be there.

If everything always went perfectly, I would feel like, When is the ball going to drop? Because good things don't always last. Maybe I'm a pessimistic person. When something just seems too good, I can't believe it.

I liked to scrapbook and collage a whole lot in high school. Im always ripping things out of magazines, and always collecting quotes from the Internet. When I was 17, I loved AIM. I was obsessed with my buddy list!

If you feel like you're at 50 percent with someone and that's as far as you'll get, you're wasting precious time. You should always be with someone who enriches your life and inspires you to be the best you can be.

I definitely have hips, and I'm shorter, so I like to make my legs look longer. I'll wear shorts or pants that elongate my legs. I'm not a tiny, skinny toothpick. I definitely like to show off my waist and my butt.

There was the period where I wanted to be a therapist, if the acting thing didn't work. That was pretty much it. I don't know why. I was just always the girl that people would come and talk to about their problems.

I am not pregnant, but I've had three kids, and there is a 'bump.' From now on, ladies, I will have a 'bump,' and it will be my 'baby bump,' and let's just all settle in and get used to it; it's not going anywhere.

I am ashamed to say I auditioned three times before I even watched any of the [X-Men] movies. And then after I watched the movies, I was like, "Oh my God, I've been doing it all wrong, why are they calling me back?

I had to have running training because I'm not a very good runner. I run weird. ... The hardest stunt is probably basic running. And trying not to hit myself in the face with my bow, are my two greatest challenges.

I'm very into positive thinking. The minute I feel nervousness or anxiety or fear, I go, "No, no, that's not a thought that I need to have right now. Everything's great, everything's good, you're going to be fine."

You can't really prepare yourself for being greeted by a dozen Klingons drinking blood wine. So, it can be a bit off-putting coming in from the outside. But it's great fun and there are no fans like Star Trek fans.

My one big regret was that there were no scenes that I could play with Eva Marie Saint. I hounded them. I said figure out some way, I just want to play a scene with this woman. But there was no way to make it work.

I started in community theater at 7 years old. I loved being on stage and performing. At the time, I didn't correlate that the stuff I was doing on stage was the same thing that I was watching in my favorite films.

I had a dream that she put her foot through my belly button and I was playing this little piggy went to the market just with her toes, just her foot was sticking out of my belly button and it was completely normal!

My mum and my husband are from Irish backgrounds so we have a lot of potatoes. Chips, mashed, boiled, new potatoes, I love them all. Even the slightly wanky ones like Duchess potatoes that go up in a little spiral.

One of the guys that used to run it - for some reason I've no idea why he used to call me the Sea Monster and I was just looking around for a name and thought that'll do. That lasted for a couple of years probably.

My mum is bright, ambitious, well read, political and very bolshie: when my dad was conscripted into the Army and posted to Libya, she convinced some general to let her go with him. I don't know how she managed it.

To me, celebrity doesn't mean a whole lot unless you're willing to use it. So I wanted to use it in a different way, with my AIDS work, the human rights stuff for the gay and lesbian community and the speaking I do

I'm trying to eliminate every vestige of my own personality, style, approach and get into somebody else's skin. Sometimes I feel I've accomplished it. But when I don't, I'm nobody at all, having left myself at home

I don't know any woman in France who doesn't talk to firemen and smile at them, because they're always so sweet, and they're wearing those tight pants. Even my dad looks at their ass when they walk down the street!

There's an awful lot of choices in the world as far as what one can do for a living. It's best to be familiar with as many sectors of the working world as you can be so you'll be better at your creative job anyway.

The technology we have available is not being used, and we don't have to tell stories in a line anymore. We can tell them in the shape of a tree. I can't stand to see it not happen, and I'm going to make it happen.

It's unarguable that the right shoes can really add elegance to an outfit and to the person who's wearing them. Take a pair of high heels, for instance. Suddenly, you're looking taller, shoulders back, body curved.

The American Dream is a romantic notion but it's newer - not as pretty. You go to Europe, and it says something about the type of person you are. You're in search of something more intimate and more about yourself.

Every woman has a mother, and every woman will have an issue with that mother and things that mother did or didn't do. It just depends on how you choose to process the lessons that you learned from your own mother.

Those days of every child having a mummy and daddy who lived at home - Daddy went to work, and Mummy stayed at home and took care of everyone - those days have almost gone, and it's so much more unconventional now.

The Norse way of speaking, no one really knew what the Vikings sounded liked, they were Norsemen. The accent is really a combination of a Scandinavian accent, maybe with a Swedish accent and an old way of speaking.

As a kid growing up, the most simple things would make me so, so excited. I remember the first time my dad got a let-out couch; you could sleep in it like a bed and my sister and I just thought that was so magical.

I mean, it feels like a homecoming in a really wonderfully comfortable place to be - the same director, the same musical director, my same dressing room! [laughs] It's a great place to build something with freedom.

I'm also taking singing classes as well, not that I ever plan to sing in public in my entire life. I actually have a phobia of singing, so I decided to take some singing lessons to help me get away from the phobia.

I just really like people, and being a freelancer can be lonely during the day, when you're at home trying to write anything you can. 'Flight Of The Conchords' was so wonderful because I had a family for two years.

I probably lived more of a rock-star life when I was 15. I got in trouble a fair amount. I cared more about hanging out and skipping school than studying. Which I am not recommending teenagers do if they read this.

I live up in the hills and I have dogs, so it is my responsibility to get them out and walk with them and I love being outside and I go on lots of hikes. I think it's good mentally to do that as well as physically.

Personally, I don't think we could do such a show if we didn't get along. The subtext of all this is that we're women in a show so we can't possibly get along. It's not like they write about The Sopranos like that.

When you prepare for something, you can then play around; you're not as worried about remembering your lines because you already know them so well. That's where you can find the freedom. So I'm all about prep work.

I had to have my first kiss in front of, like, a hundred people. I didn't know what to do. So my sisters told me to, like, practice on a pillow, you know? But it didn't kiss me back so I didn't know what to expect.

I think the kind of unexpected I really love is when you open books and the actual way of writing is different and interesting. Like reading Virginia Woolf for the first time or Lawrence Durrell for the first time.

I have to say that getting to tackle Maria in 'The Sound of Music' at Carnegie Hall was surreal. When I heard my voice, it was all I could do to keep myself from doing a British accent and sound like Julie Andrews!

When you're in prison, there's no hiding. These women are not hiding behind towels and shower curtains. They go to the bathroom with no doors on the stalls. It would actually look weird, if these women were hiding.

We don't have props or jewelery. You always want something tangible to play with, and we have nothing. I find myself playing with my hands off camera, just because I'm getting a little uncomfortable with the space.

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