I had a dual role: designer and advocate.
I had never even thought I'd be an actress - I was supposed to be a lawyer. But the motivation is the same: when you act, you defend a role; you have to be convincing. It's the same career.
The governor has a role in terms of declaring a state of emergency.
Most people's personalities and roles are locked by the time they're nine or 10. I think there's something to that.
In the national security establishment, it is somewhat frowned upon for people to take extremely harsh partisan roles in campaigns.
When you're a woman in your 40s, it's not the best time to do films, because there really aren't that many roles. Then you reach 50 and there are more roles again. Mother parts.
Faith greatly shaped America's role in the world. We are a country that embodies the Bible verse from Luke chapter 12, verse 48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. "
Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.
You look at people like Gena Rowlands, but she had [John] Cassavetes to write these amazing roles for her.
It's a writer's or director's role to be cerebral, whereas for an actor it should be a visceral, gut thing. When the action starts, it's best to turn the brain off and let it become an instinctual thing.
I feel like part of the inequality is that there are few great roles written for older women, and I think part of that is, basically, people want to look at young women, whereas men are still considered attractive - or more attractive - when they get older.
It's much easier to have something that's absolutely definite and has a definite identity, rather than a really generic role.
A critic often has to play the role of coroner, dissecting a work to find out why it died (or never lived).
Television is also a great tool for women. As you know, the best female roles are often on television, so it's a very exciting time. I've really embraced it. The pace is great, but also not so great sometimes. You feel like you have to make sure to pay attention, at all times, to not let anything slip through.
I think it's a real danger, as an actor, when you try to make some statement through your career about what the business should be doing or ultimately what your image should be or how you want to be perceived. I look at every project that comes along and say, "Is this something I can sink my teeth into and can do a good job on?" That's really how I choose roles.
I think of a piece of music as something that comes alive when it is being performed, and I feel that my role in the transmission of music is to be its best advocate at that moment.
Pain is pain, joy is joy - you can't avoid bringing pieces of yourself into a role.
I was quite eager to work, anytime somebody was offering me a job, if I liked the role. Because I was always very discriminating from the very beginning, in the sense that I had absolutely no problem saying no to jobs when they came along if somehow they didn't fit into my universe - whatever that was.
I usually do get to play the very sweet, charming roles. . . but I'm not an obvious kind of villain.
The only thing that was sort of Asian [as a role model] was Hello Kitty. I don't want to model myself after Hello Kitty. She has no mouth.