Its only when you are a great actor and are recognised for your good work that you become famous. Unless you are in the news for the wrong reasons!

What was exciting was to really go beneath the surface and see what makes a person insulting, mean and abusive... especially to ones own child.

I used to take my work home with me before I had children. I don`t do that now; I do my work and never bring the character home.

I most often land up taking up the roles that I most detest.

I had directed a short film, but basically I`m a student in how to use the camera to tell the story, so I really needed that rehearsal.

I`m more proud of quitting smoking than of anything else I`ve done in my life, including winning an Oscar.

Theatre is more exciting in the sense that you can actually see the audience in the eye. You know there are no takes and retakes. You have one chance to do your job... and you better do it well!

I think all industries are sexist in nature and I don`t think the film industry is any different.

I also do push-ups when I can, but I normally don`t work out my upper body except when I`m lifting my kids, which usually is enough!

I like to take up something that is challenging. I like to stretch myself.

The crossover wasn`t happening. TV actors were TV actors, and film and stage actors were a whole different thing. And now there`s just a lot of crossover.

I demanded two weeks of rehearsal because to me as an actor, that`s the most important time.

After doing so many different roles, if you don`t stretch yourself, there`s no excitement left.

I was a gypsy my whole life, until I did this series. For the first time I can stay home. The studio`s only 20 minutes from my house.

And that`s why I chose on purpose not to have a death scene. We`ve seen them in a million movies and it`s too much like cranking the tears out. I didn`t want that scene.

When I`m not working, my time is really about my children.

Sure I faced the troubles and challenges that most actors and actresses face until they get noticed, but I was always confident of myself and my capabilities.

I would take up any small job on the sets, just so that I could hang around with the hope of getting noticed.

Competition is very good... as long as its healthy. It`s what makes one strive to be better.

It was not really a career choice that I had to make. It was something I knew right from the beginning. I had to be an actress... period.

I try to eat low-fat, but once a week I`ll have a major dessert or an oily pasta. Mostly I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken and fish.

Television really does offer still great parts for women, cable in particular.

A friend of mine described it this way: When they were born it was like a meteor landed in our house and blew everything apart. We had to just put all the pieces back.

You know what`s weird is that we all parent the way we were parented. Sometimes I find myself saying just the things I hated to hear my mother say.

I loved the stage and then grew to love the camera.

I don`t want to fight aging; I want to take good care of myself, but plastic surgery and all that? I`m not interested.

I am an actress and acting is my passion... period!

Movie makers are now finding roles that are more apt to older actresses. They see the talent and they want to put it to best use.

I wanted to be an actress. In college I was a serious feminist and very political. I was determined to get one thing out of my career and that was respect. I didn`t want money. I didn`t care about fame.

When I was first starting out, if you were acting on television, it was a real stigma.

I was a fighter and very determined. There was no way I was going to back out without winning.

My heart`s in really great shape thanks to spinning classes.

Also, I thought the writing, on Chicago Hope in particular, was far superior to a lot of the feature-film scripts that I had been getting anyway.