I still feel like I`ve crashed the party.

I remember just lying in the grass, staring at the clouds, wondering where they drifted off to after they floated over Texas. I never would have imagined that one day I would follow one of those clouds and find myself in Hollywood.

I believe in love, but I don`t sit around waiting for it. I buy houses.

Being horrible in a big film is a quicker nosedive than doing an obscure film and making no money.

Deep down, I`m a Texas girl looking for that big romance every girl dreams about. Biologically, I look forward to being a cornerstone of a family. I`ll be in my glory when I have a child on my knee.

Once you`ve reached the point where you can pay rent, you can go to the vet and you can go to the grocery store, after that point it`s all the same. I don`t have the appetite for a decadent lifestyle.

Throughout our courtship, Kenny told me that he had proof that Saddam Hussein was a threat because he possessed weapons of mass destruction. I told him, `You had me at weapons.`

(On landing Jerry Maguire) I remember driving to the audition, and I remember being very calm because I was thinking, `This is never going to happen.`

[On her friendship with George Clooney, her co-star in `Leatherheads`] We have a lovely relationship. I write him six-page emails about my political rage, and he writes back.

I am very proud to be Norwegian. [1996 interview]

People did suggest to me, `Oh, it might not be necessary to gain that much weight or as much as you did last time.` I thought the weight was essential in repeating the journey. If you`re not going to be who she is, then what is the point?

Emotionally gaining the weight didn`t affect me. In fact, I was afraid that I didn`t gain enough weight. We were working six days a week, so my fear was that I`d lose a few pounds from the work, and the fluctuations in my weight would show on the screen. But they weren`t noticeable. (On her weight gain in _Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)_).

What I admire most about Bridget is her ever-present optimism in the face of adversity. I love how she has romantic troubles, but she gets back up and even laughs at herself. Me? I do my best. I keep on trying, anyway.

I think we can all relate to Bridget standing in a hallway wanting to know, `Do you love me or not?` She just blurts it out and maybe that makes her seem like she`s not strong. I think she`s very brave because she`s speaking her mind. Ultimately, she knows that even if she doesn`t get the right answer from this man, she will still get up and move forward. That`s strength to me.

"It`s great to be a brunet. I can sneak around downtown Los Angeles and nobody knows it`s me. I went to Starbucks to get my coffee in the morning, and they said, `What`s your name?` I said, `Oh, Renée.` Nobody even looked at me twice. My friends even walk past me. It`s fantastic because I feel so free again. That`s why I think the old adage that blonds have more fun is a presumption!" [on dying her hair brown]

"I wanted to be self-sufficient, I wanted to take care of myself, and I wanted to learn. I wanted to travel, I wanted to see the world and have my eyes opened. I wanted to be consistently challenged, and I knew I needed to be creative in some way. When I got my job in a bar and I could pay for my tuition and go on auditions and sometimes get jobs that I loved and pay my rent, I knew that I would be all right. That`s when my dreams came true, long before the telephone rang and someone said, `Come and meet Tom Cruise`".

My life has far exceeded what I might ever have dreamed of because I would never have been so bold as to dream that these things might happen to me.

"I see the Oscar [for best supporting actress in Cold Mountain (2003)] in my bedroom, and it`s like I bought it in a souvenir shop on Hollywood Boulevard".

It was very exciting for me to fill out Bridget`s dresses. It felt really great. I didn`t feel any different. I didn`t feel uncomfortable, and I didn`t feel as if it changed my life. I got such positive responses from the fellows in my life while I looked like Bridget Jones. I had a lot of friends who said I should think about keeping some of the weight on. I have to say I agreed, because there were certain things about it I liked very much. But, of course, I`m a girl, and I thought, `Ugh, no.` Like anybody, I want to look my best.

"It saddens me every day when people come up and say, `OK, how did you lose that weight?` I can`t speak about it because I am not an authority on weight loss. I am just not. I am not challenged with a medical situation that`s weight-related and that I need to pay attention to". [On the weight she lost after Bridget Jones`s Diary (2001)].

Regarding the lifestyle of the people of Romania, she says, "I learned how little in the way of material goods we really need, and how beautiful a simple life can be. In Romania people work with their hands every day, and you`ll see an 80-year-old woman still chopping wood because she`s been looking after herself all her life, and she still has the strength to do it."

On Los Angeles "It opens your eyes in this town, it`s amazing. It`s taught me who I don`t want to be."