I`ve always thought that I`m sexy in my own right, but not in a way that people thought was bankable.

With big, emotional roles it`s very easy, especially if you`ve grown up in the American school of acting, to exploit your own pain. You have to be careful about that, because 9 times out of 10, your pain is not appropriate to the character. You can watch someone on-stage cry and cry - but in the audience you feel nothing. It`s easy to become indulgent. For me, what`s important is the story first.

[On her character on The Truman Show (1998)]: Well the thing that was interesting was that we sort of did these back stories about these characters and where they were and what was going on with them. And when the movie picks up, Hanna Gill, who plays Meryl Burbank, is aware of the fact that she is losing her influence over Truman. He`s not happy at home. He`s beginning to get agitated. He`s beginning to think of things outside the house, and she can feel that she is losing her power. So consequently the smile gets bigger and bigger and the desperation, that is why there is that intense undertow to her. Because she knows she is losing it.

Just because you`re not famous, doesn`t mean you`re not good.

I grew up in Manhattan and, since my father was a playwright, all I ever wanted to be was a stage actress.

It`s always nice when you do something and it`s well received as opposed to the other way which God knows happens to everybody. When the good times come around, you take a deep breath, appreciate it, but not take it too seriously.

At school I was always trying to con my teachers into letting me act out book reports instead of writing them.

I have a bag with a toothbrush and toothpaste and all the things I might need during the day. I call the bag my trailer. Sometimes you don`t have a trailer, so that`s my trailer.

I don`t consider myself a celebrity, and I don`t consider myself a star.

Fortunately, I`m in a perfect position for me. I`m able to work, have a wonderful time, and I`m not really a celebrity, and that`s great.

[On her character in The Truman Show (1998)]: The concept of The Truman Show - it was so much fun. What gave us all an additional challenge was that those of us who were the cast play the actors but playing a role. So we did all this elaborate back-story. So I made up my actress name Hanna Gill, who plays Meryl Burbank, who is married to Truman Burbank. So we did all this double layering of character work not really knowing what was going to come through. I`m glad that some of the people who have seen the movie can say that they can actually see it in all of us. All of us who play the characters surrounding Jim (Jim Carrey) in the film, that they can see the double layer.

People can`t really place me. They`re not really sure who I am. Sometimes they think I`m Helen Hunt. Sometimes they think I`m Laura Dern.

[On doing different kinds of work]: I just want to say, "Go work! It doesn`t matter what it is. Work begets work. Just go!"

[About her hair color changing with nearly every role she has.] My mother always gets upset whenever my hair goes dark. She really hates it. And then going from dark to blonde takes a toll. It`s amazing that I have a single strand of hair left on my head! (2007)

There are as many bad independent films as there are bad commercial films. I`ve been in some very good commercial films. "Mystic River" is a good movie. "The Truman Show" is a good movie.

[On Jim Carrey]: He has tremendous charm. He has an enormous heart, just a big big heart. I think that is the thing. I think if you look at his other work you can see that there, which is what makes his characters more then just mimicry. I think that is why his work has hit so hard. Because there is just more there. So with this one you see more of his humanity.

I guess whatever sense of community, discipline, the laws of truth for me have come from growing up in an artistic environment with people who are loving and look out for each other.

Really, any sense of spirituality, which I do have, really comes from the arts that are sort of my inspiration.

[On how she has benefited from receiving Oscar nominations]: It`s helped me to keep working, quite frankly.

A lifetime of work, particularly where you get to see an actor grow and change, is better than becoming a rock & roll movie star.

I tend to make low-budget movies but, yeah, I make more money than I ever thought I would make.

People can`t really place me. They`re not really sure who I am. Sometimes they think I`m Helen Hunt. Sometimes they think I`m Laura Dern.

When you work and live on a film set for 12, 14 hours a day and moving from location to location, it`s hard just to exist.

(On making You Can Count on Me (2000)) Kenneth Lonergan and I locked horns. It was about tiny things that would drive me crazy. He was very specific about his script being word perfect.

[On her fame]: I don`t consider myself a celebrity and I don`t consider myself a star.

[On her father]: My parents were divorced and I didn`t grow up with him, but I spent a lot of time around him and his influence on me has been profound.