But I have had the luxury of working on good films with great people.

I`ll read a script maybe twice, but I`ll think about the role more than I`ll rehearse lines.

I think it would be hard to go the distance in this business without a sense of humor.

And it`s not that I haven`t taken a money job here and there but for the most part I have been driven by the need to work on a great script.

It`s never easy with characters in these dark and grave circumstances but that`s my job.

I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies.

I always try to approach character first and foremost viscerally.

And I have a really great agent and I know it`s almost an oxymoron to say you have a smart agent. But she is and she has a beautiful aesthetic and she has guided me.

I think I am monumentally lucky but I do have the good fortune to have these great young directors offering me parts in their scripts.

You`re always close and you never get that big romantic lead.

The majority of work I do is in independent films, where you`re lucky if you have five takes.

I love writers. All of my best friends are writers.

It`s maybe a little sweeter now. Maybe it`s a little easier now because I have a life and I hopefully am more secure in mind and body and spirit.

I`m still traumatized that I`m going to be on a big screen in a white bikini and naked so who knows!

I have to watch the news or my day is not complete.

New Orleans. Born and raised. I lived there until I was 19.

I just have a thing for writers. Maybe it because I`m just so not a writer.

Why are comedic parts for women the exception, not the rule?

Maybe I have a certain amount of smarts to say yes because I don`t care if I`m not going to make any money because I love the part.

But no, had I been successful in my 20s I would have been just fine. But it is nice to defy the odds.

The odds are not in your favor the older you get, especially if you`re a woman in this business.

I don`t like a lot of rehearsing.

There were some movies I passed on early on, and some movies I didn`t get, some big studio films. But now I look back and I realize that I really came later in life to a kind of career. I was somewhat typecast as suburban "mom" type roles early on. But I`ve always had this deep voice, so I think it was tough sometimes for directors to cast me as the ingénue. Because I`d walk in and look a certain way, then open my mouth and have this...voice! So I think I sort of grew into my voice, my face, my body as I got older.

I`m really a director`s actor. I rely heavily on a director.

See, the SAG awards caught me totally by surprise.

I`m obsessed. I`ve always needed to know what`s going on but now it`s a must.

Holly Hunter has been doing great work forever.

And now oddly I`m getting sexier parts than I`ve ever gotten.

I think it`s always harder in a film to convey intimacy.

Well did graduate summa cum laude from Fordham University.

But I do really love watching the news and going back and forth between all the news channels. That`s really just kind of the highlight of my day.

If my gravy train stops at SAG, honey, it`s been a great ride.

There were some movies I passed on early on, and some movies I didn`t get, some big studio films. But now I look back and I realize that I really came later in life to a kind of career. I was somewhat typecast as suburban "mom" type roles early on. But I`ve always had this deep voice, so I think it was tough sometimes for directors to cast me as the ingénue. Because I`d walk in and look a certain way, then open my mouth and have this...voice! So I think I sort of grew into my voice, my face, my body as I got older.