What I loved about playing the corpse is that obviously somebody else got to do the physical part. It appeals to the part of me that likes playing character parts and getting the chance to get away from my own physicality.

I'm always attracted to lower budget, not because it's lower budget, but because they tend to be better scripts. It's the scripts that tend to be the small arthouse film that tend to be more actor-led and character driven.

CBS started to confiscate our packages and mail as a safety procedure. A lot of packages that people send for the holidays and to our kids we can't open. A lot of times they are from overseas. It's very upsetting at times.

Well, in terms of the filming with the car, you always wanted to be on the side which the cameras weren't, because - and it sounds ridiculous, but getting in and out of that car, all in leather, in the heat, was a problem.

I always wanted to be an actress, but I was embarrassed to say so, and somehow I found myself in the dance track. I'm very competitive, and I wanted to be the best in that field, too, although it didn't really speak to me.

I have a sewing machine that I adore, and I spend a lot of time sitting in front of it when I'm not working. And any excuse to paint or draw or do something artistic with my hands really gets me going. Definitely aspiring.

That's a curious paradox that I don't think a lot of people out there know; that you get really scared before you go on. You come out in a nervous rash, and it's not like you actually love getting up there and showing off.

The cool thing about Kyle Killen, he writes really defined characters. I was a big fan of 'Awake' and also 'Lone Star.' I just think that he's a really, really special writer, and complex and deep, and a really smart dude.

I lived in Nashville for about five years. It was almost like me going to college for my craft. I immersed myself in the songwriting community there. They embraced me, and I made some real friends but also learned so much.

To do life right, you have to feel like you're growing up until the day you die. The thing I'm proudest of is that I have stayed curious. I have every intention, when I'm on my deathbed, of saying, "Oh, my God - I get it!"

Unfortunately, I don’t actually don’t have any scenes with Michael Bolton. There’s an exposé done on Sue Sylvester, and he pops up on the screen to basically just say he has no idea who I am. That’s the father of my child!

A good way to take a baby step into the world of animal rights is to make a list of small things you can do to help your issue and work your way up to the big things. Make a promise to do one thing on your list each month.

Newsflash for any of the current, past or future Survivors out there... when you contemplate strategizing about the other team, the best idea is to shut up and keep it to yourself. You're welcome; this bill is in the mail.

It's all about being comfortable, being easy and having you be able to wear something and not having it wear you. It's classic. Every time I've tried to be bold and crazy, I feel like a Japanese animated cartoon character.

We all have a responsibility to volunteer somewhere and I'm lucky that I get the education and get taken to places to see what's out there and see what's happening and to then be a part of it in hopefully an impactful way.

I always have to work hard to find a way to disconnect from the thinking until it becomes second nature to me because that's where you find the best moments. Dancing is like that for me all the time. It makes me feel free.

It was a very idyllic childhood, surrounded by utterly beautiful landscapes that I got very, very bored of when I hit my teens. But being on your own a lot and being bored is good for your imagination. It makes it stretch.

In my life I do look up to actors, at my age I ask myself, who else is playing interesting parts at my age which is very difficult for a female actor. On top of it, being a minority, having come from China makes it harder.

The main problem in marriage is that, for a man, sex is a hunger-like eating. If the man is hungry and can't get to a fancy French restaurant, he'll go to a hot dog stand. For a woman, what's important is love and romance.

I think London, New York, Paris, Milan, any big city has its own fashion. I don't know why they make such a big thing of Paris. I think maybe it comes from French New Wave films portraying the French girl as very feminine.

The funny thing about my films is that you can make little piles of them. You could make little piles of the movie that were family movies, you could make a little art movie pile, you could make a little action movie pile.

I talked to ex-wives of musicians of the '70s for research. They're the funniest people in the world, yet there is this sad, beautiful thing in their eyes that says they've seen more than they could ever possibly tell you.

Some of the craziest people I've met, in my life, are some of the most brilliant people I've met. It's almost as if they get bored in their own brain and they have to come up with this craziness to stay interested in life.

I feel like there is something about having a copacetic world POV that helps in making a comedy. Like, David Wain has such a particular way of looking at the world. It helps when everyone can see behind his eyes, you know?

Well, I think that when I perform on the road I always thank the audience for buying a ticket because it's a big deal to buy a ticket for a live entertainment, get a baby-sitter and pay for the meal, the parking, whatever.

We had such a wonderful set of circumstances in Wilmington. Yes, the four of us became famous literally overnight, but we were in a small town and we always knew when people were coming down. We always knew when to behave.

I've wanted to produce for a long time. I'd love to get a bunch of my girlfriends together - a female writer, a female director - and create something. Creatively, it's a different dimension. Why wouldn't people want that?

In my sports or workout life, I like to prove to myself I can do something, whether it's a half marathon or whatever it is. I like to take challenges that scare me because then once we've accomplished it, we feel stronger.

A question that I can't answer is: what do you want to do next? What's your dream role? What are you really looking to do? Where do you see yourself? It doesn't make any sense because that's such an outsider's perspective.

(I've learned) how important it is to really evaluate your own life...to pay attention to what's going on in your own head, and to know that this is (your) life...and make conscious decisions about how you want to live it.

When I have to do a scene where I feel vulnerable as an actress, I always grow from those experiences, so I welcome them. Even though it may not feel amazing at first. You have to embrace it and use it to improve yourself.

Our traditions have been waking up on Christmas morning and feasting on a southern breakfast. I'm from the South. We eat grits and biscuits and gravy and eggs with Ritz crackers and country ham, bacon, you name it. - Leigh

That scene in 'The Purge' where my kids, Mary's kids, are in danger was really crazy for me, because I suddenly I have my methods as an actor, so I went to the place of 'If somebody came near my children, with bad intent?'

I used to be and I still am into psychology. I would like to be able to pursue something like that, but I don't know. The older I've gotten, the more endearing this business has become and I can't really imagine leaving it

I think sci-fi films have become rather bleak, and understandably so - I think we've made some big mistakes globally with how we're developing, and we deal with that guilt by creating these very dystopian futures in films.

I think there's always great tension because there never seems to be enough - there is always pressure. There's always pressure because there isn't enough time. There's never enough time for a movie, it seems to me. Never.

My kids are really learning everything from scratch. It's our job to be their tour guides and camp counselors and orientation people. That's a weird responsibility, especially in a world that feels as good as it feels bad.

When I was in primary school, my best friend was a boy and we always goofed around, climbed trees, got holes in my trousers and muddied all my tops and things like that; a complete nightmare for the washing, but great fun.

I've always felt so different from how I look. I meet so many pretty girls who are like, 'Here I am! Don't you want me because I look good?' That concept is so weird to me. I want to know, 'What else do you have going on?'

I play-acted and started performing, which just logically led to doing it in school, which led to studying it in college, which led to auditioning to the showcase in New York. And then I had an agent, and I was an actress.

I wish that I could write. I think that's a wonderful outlet for an artist. You are ultimately in control. Your fate is not determined by outside influences. You can write wherever you are. I don't think I have the talent.

I get it all the time; I just have to laugh and enjoy it. People enjoy it so much, coming up to me saying "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia." If people are having fun, I'm having fun. It used to bother me a lot right after the show.

If you're disabled, and you're trying to achieve your dreams, accept the fact right now that you have to work 500 times more than the average bear next to you. Stop bucking for sympathy, put on your titanium legs, and run.

I have a season pass to several of the VH1 shows, like 'Rock of Love' and Flavor Flav's show. It's kind of embarrassing because it's completely ignorant television - it's all totally fake and garbage - but I still love it.

If I could have a time machine, where I could go back and tell 12-year-old Melissa that someday John Schneider was going to play her ex-husband, junior high would have been so much easier. I'd have had something to go for.

I thought, "Why? and how did we evolve with this weak, and useless passion in tact within the deep heart's core?" And the answer as I've formulated it to myself is that empathy is the engine that powers all the best in us.

The funniest racism is the racism between minorities. It's something you don't see dramatized, but almost every minority I know who's my age, they have these funny stories about their parents stereotyping other minorities.

I always knew I wanted kids, but when my mom passed away I was like, 'I want a bunch of kids. I want three kids or four kids, and I want to have that relationship again.' I can't bring my mom back, but I can have children.

I was just this chubby little Indian kid who looked like a nerd. I didn't have a ton of academic skills. It wasn't until I was in high school that I was like, "I guess I like writing dialogue." So that's how I got into it.

After a while in marriage, it doesn't work anymore. There is something missing, there is something wrong. There are few marriages that stay alive forever. We like something, and after a while, we hate what we used to love.

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