Courtroom dramas can be boring.
— Laura Linney
History's a resource.
Working with special needs children is hard.
I don't think I'm exactly gregarious, you know. I'm not usually known as the loud person in the room.
A magnetic personality doesn't necessarily indicate a good heart.
Cancer is so much bigger than a TV show.
I'm noise-sensitive. It's always better for me if things are quiet, so I can concentrate.
The goal seems to me at times just to be business first.
I think everyone's experience with a terminal disease is so deeply personal and unique to the person, the context in which they're living and the relationships that they have.
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.
I grew up in Manhattan and, since my father was a playwright, all I ever wanted to be was a stage actress.
My castings sort of go in phases. There'll be several icy professional parts - a lawyer or a cop. And then there'll be the intelligent-but-wounded group and then the period things. It goes in sequence.
I love working closely with people.
I had a good imagination and I still have one; a child-like imagination that hasn't gone away.
Traits like humility, courage, and empathy are easily overlooked - but it's immensely important to find them in your closest relationships.
Some people's personalities are so compelling that they command attention.
People's view of cancer will change when they have their own relationship with cancer, which everyone will, at some point.
I love to work in all sorts of different situations.
For me to have the opportunity to stay with one character for, God willing, a long period of time, is really exciting.
The thing about death is that it's honest.
I've always thought that I'm sexy in my own right, but not in a way that people thought was bankable.
I don't consider myself a celebrity and I don't consider myself a star.
If there's one thing that I've done on purpose it's to take whatever job, so long as it's interesting and challenging, whether it's theatre, radio, TV or film.
It's very hard to put forth a film that's about love and the joy of love and for it not to be patronising and not make people nauseous or make them roll their eyes.
The good thing is that I'm always honest.
Doing the right thing has power.
People can't really place me. They're not really sure who I am.
I think the way we talk about cancer has really evolved. I remember the way my grandmother used to talk about it, like a death sentence, no-one would even mention the word.
I mean, the idea of losing a parent is really inconceivable. I think there's just an undertone of dread about the subject, so people don't talk about it and don't prepare for it.
You have to relish the challenge of television.
Just because you're not famous, doesn't mean you're not good.
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.
At school I was always trying to con my teachers into letting me act out book reports instead of writing them.
