Life is what you make it... and nowhere close to making mine the best it can be.

There`s only so much you can do, but if somebody doesn`t give you a chance there is nothing you can do.

On a possible biopic of her life: `God I hope not. I`ve been working harder than anything in my life to try and keep my life sacred. I really don`t mind when I`m in front of a camera and playing a character I`m comfortable with... but I don`t necessarily like the spotlight to be about me - not at all. The idea of sitting in Cannes and watching that... ugh. No.`

I`ve always said that I worry about being with a man who doesn`t flirt.

I live a very simple life. I don`t have to make those giant movies. I don`t have a yacht or a private plane. As long as I can maintain this life, which is pretty low-maintenance and simple, then all of a sudden you don`t have to worry about all that stuff. I don`t have to take a job to pay a mortgage on a house I can`t afford.

What kind of stories can you tell with glamor? There are very few stories of conflict you can tell, right? I look for good stories; I`m not driven by anything other than good filmmakers and good stories. And then my job as an actor is to service those stories as well as I possibly can. The physical is the last thing that drives me.

Looks alone won`t get you that far. It may get you in the door, but there`s always somebody younger, somebody prettier. You have to rely on something else.

[on bad habits and guilty pleasures] Anything fried I`ll take. Are you kidding me? I will fry my shoe and eat it.

[On accents]: At first I found it really hard using three different English accents: South African, faking the American, faking the accent required by the job. I decided to make it easier for myself and just do one. I haven`t lost my culture, just my accent.

[On marriage]: I`m happy for people who want to get married but it`s not my thing. I`m extremely happy in my relationship and I would love to have kids.

[On the importance of the Toronto Film Festival for smaller films]: If people, critics respond to the film there [Toronto Film Festival], it starts a nice little wave of chat, which for a movie like North Country (2005) is really important. It`s one of those films that travels by word of mouth.

I think of myself as a highly sexual creature. I have to use that. I have no choice. I like it. I didn`t grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.

I`m 50-50 on glamour stuff. I`d rather put on a pair of jeans and get on my Harley and act like a guy.

I`ve always been very proud to be a South African and I`ve always been very honest to people about that. And whatever I can do in my power I promise you I will do. I don`t think it`s too much pressure. I think it`s our duty as citizens of this country. You don`t have to win an Oscar to do something good for your country. We all can do that. If I can be an encouragement for that I`ll be glad to be that.

Women have conquered the world. And with everything we go through, it`s about time we had a female president. I don`t think we`re that far away, but it should have happened already. I wouldn`t be surprised if Hillary Rodham Clinton runs - I really admire her.

[On the revelation that Charlize`s mother shot and killed Charlize`s father while he was in a drunken rage. The shooting was ruled self-defense]: I was always Mama`s girl, and I always felt like her protector.

«I don`t think condemning people who murder and then killing them necessarily sends out the right message. And I have a huge problem with the way these people are used as political pawns.»

«I`m not for the death penalty and working on this film didn’t really change anything for me. If anything it made me more aware of how ineffective it is.»