I actually think in some ways that it might be more challenging to be bipolar because it's so mercurial - it's so ever-changing. You can't get any traction. You can't build on a system. Whereas, somebody who has Asperger's, which is certainly a much more forgiving expression of autism, can create models for coping and build on them over time.
— Claire Danes
I'm just always learning lines. I've learned to flag the really crucial scenes, and I start figuring them out and committing them to memory as soon as I get them.
It's very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it's fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.
I could truly have gone through life thinking that women were these venomous creatures. Turns out, they're not.
Acting is a humiliating job, from start to finish.
I have to expose myself and then accept the judgment that audiences and critics will have. And that's okay. I appreciate the elliptical nature of it. Sometimes people are more in the mood to be nice to me than others, and that's great.
I would rather not work than be a neurotic mess.
I particularly love Israel. I've had fantastic experiences there.
I discovered Orson Welles in college; my freshman English professor screened 'Citizen Kane' for us, and I wound up writing a 20-page term paper on it.
People confuse fame with validation or love. But fame is not the reward. The reward is getting fulfillment out of doing the thing you love.
There was a solid year and a half, perhaps two years, after making 'Temple Grandin,' when I didn't do anything. I just didn't have much patience for roles that were silly, or light, or inconsequential.
I have this book club, and we don't read one book; we offer up a few suggestions and create a library over time.
People with bipolar disorder have difficulty with boundaries.
It's funny with jeans now, because if they don't feel like a pair of sweatpants, I don't have patience for them anymore! I think I'm becoming increasingly lazy.
I do know how to fire a machine gun, so be warned! I'm trained!
You have to pick your battles on set.
Autism does exist on a spectrum, and there are so many manifestations of it, so many kinds of expressions of it. And every case is particular.
I guess I stopped acting when I was 18 and didn't pick it up again until I was 21. That wasn't the plan, though. When I first started at Yale, the plan was to do a movie each summer.
I was a very confident child. I knew I wanted to be an actress from the age of 5.
My go-to gifts are scarves from my friend Matin Maulawizada's nonprofit organization, Afghan Hands, which supports disenfranchised women in Afghanistan. In exchange for their beautiful embroidery, the women are given financial aid and classes in math and literacy. The scarves are all stunning and one of a kind.
I've always very earnestly tried to do my best, so I just have to trust that and forgive myself for being fallible.
Once you get over that peak of puberty, you hit a nice stride.
College was just so essential for my sense of self and my development.
Every time I make a movie, I'm prepared for it to become influential and career-defining - but I have no control over these things.
If I took my characters home with me, half of my life would be a misery, I think. No, I tend to compartmentalize work from my life. I'm not terribly method.
In New York City, everybody goes into therapy.
Actors want to surprise themselves. When it's really good, you kind of transcend yourself, and that happens infrequently. Very, very rarely.
I'm exceptionally open with my own parents, and they're exceptionally open with me.
People in the CIA, they marry each other. They're like actors! We have to travel without much warning to far-flung places, and it's very hard to communicate what our experiences are like to those in the outside world.
I actually haven't been approached a whole lot for television, believe it or not.
When I was a kid, I was one of those really obnoxious 'oooh oooh' girls, with my hand up in the air constantly. I've learned over the years that that's not so attractive, so I've censored that.
I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom. It just wouldn't suit me.
Every three seconds in the developing world, a child dies needlessly due to lack of basic health care and other things we all take for granted.
Most people assume that autistic people are not capable of empathy.
By the time I went to Yale, I'd been acting for a long time and I was really tired of it. I was restless - and a little bored - and I was really eager to investigate different parts of myself.
My parents never condescended to me. As a child, I always sat at the head of our dinner table. I was always given a lot of responsibility.
I like marriage. I feel very secure. It helps when you are in love with the person you are married to.
I discovered Christopher Isherwood in college. His writing style is so direct, warm, and inclusive.
Oliver Stone's strategy is to unnerve the actors so as to make them alert and alive.
I fantasized about being a psychology major when I first started school, and I took a handful of Psych 101 classes.
Narciso Rodriguez was my first fashion big brother. He made my wedding dress, which was wonderful.
The big question is always, 'Eyes or lips?' I tend to go with the eyes because I've got a lot more material to work with now - and it saves me from reapplying lipstick! I'm a pretty low-maintenance person and it's too excessive to exaggerate both the eyes and lips.
I was very driven to act from a very young age, and my parents were not only tolerant of that drive but also encouraging.
If you do something that you're not genuinely passionate about, it is a little soul-crushing. Just not worth it.
I got an agent when I was 12, and I started working in more amateur productions well before that. But even as a kid, I never felt like a kid actor, you know? I always took myself kind of absurdly seriously.
Counterterrorism isn't really about the nunchakus, the guns and gadgets. It's about psychology.
We just can't shake monogamy. It definitely demands a kind of rigor and discipline and selflessness. But it's also fun.
I am not a genius. But I am nerdy.
You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes.
I can get a dance party started pretty much anywhere and anytime.
