Quotes

I was a total bad girl growing up.

I'm often uncomfortable with girliness, to be honest.

I am the middle of three sisters. And I love them.

It's interesting to me that I get cast as mothers and really maternal, sweet, nice people... Maybe I have a vulnerability or something; maybe that's what it is.

I think part of the fun of being an actor is getting to work with different directors and seeing their take on it, what they're passionate about. They all have different ideas about your character.

People who know me would say they get a kick out of the fact that I'm always playing nice people, not that I'm not a nice person, but it's not a defining element.

I've stayed away from Twitter for a long time because I sort of didn't trust myself with such an intimate but very public way of relating to the world, but I feel like I've studied it enough.

Mostly I work really unconsciously, and I think if the scenes are really well written, which they are, and if I just throw myself into it, I don't really think about it.

I don't like to watch myself. For the most part, I find it weird. It depresses me; I'm very critical.

I think women who don't understand boundaries are fascinating.

I really wanted to do plays since I was a little girl. I wanted to go to Juilliard and to learn, but then I really fell in love with doing film and television along the way.

In my free time, I love to lay in bed.

Sometimes I think your face and your bearing and your energy have so much more to do with the jobs you get than the actual work and the time and the effort that you put in, or the talent even.

I think Chris Weitz is an amazing director, and his sensibility - I wouldn't even know how to articulate it - it's just, he's a very sensitive, interesting guy.

My career's been a steady, interesting, weird, frustrating, fun journey at all different times.

I love, love, love to rehearse, but when you're rehearsing and then you go do it at night, it's a very weird thing, because you're incorporating all these new things.

I needed to do a play. I needed to learn how to act again, in a focused, all-encompassing way, and a really challenging play is a great way to do that.

I get cast a lot of times in movies with nice people for some reason - because I have a nice face or something.

I'm not trying to take anything away from film acting, because it's also really hard, and I worship the people who are great at it. But to actually have to go out on stage night after night and do it with your audience right there is so wild and scary and exciting and fun and all the things that I remember loving about it.

It's funny to be playing a mom. I mean, I'm not a mom in real life. I don't even have a dog.

My father raised me from the time I was 12 years old. And it would never occur to me that I wouldn't be strong - I wasn't raised like that.

I'm friends with Elizabeth Banks - she's a great actress but not actressy at all. She's very cool. I adore her.

After high school, I attended Oakland University for one year, then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division (1995-1999, Group 28), where I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1999.

I love kids. My sister has four boys, and I'm obsessed with them.

Eventually, I realized that I would not have a life until I buckled down. Once I did, I auditioned for Juilliard - and that changed everything.

I wanted to do plays. But then I got out of school and started getting jobs in movies and TV. And I seemed more suited to that. I like the intimacy of working for the camera, the size of performance it requires. I love getting into tiny moments.

I have dated an actor or two. I've tried not to, but then, I don't want to be racist against actors.

It is hard to date anywhere... I think you just get a little older and hopefully a clearer idea of who you - I don't know. It is hard.

I was really bad until I was 18.

The Cullens, they're an interesting group of vampires. They're all really good but kind of bad. I mean, they are still vampires.

To me, there's so much we don't understand about our world, and I think it's really fascinating to see these people come up with the stuff that they come up with.

I pretty much adore all my exes. I try to stay friends with them if I can.

I don't wear sweatpants out as much as I would like. I would prefer to be in sweatpants most of the time.

I think, psychics, there are some people that really are psychic, and it doesn't make sense, but why should it make sense?

You really have to listen and be vulnerable and open to the other actors and the environment.

It's surprisingly hard to play a vampire and feel believable. I mean, you want to be able to at least believe yourself.

Maybe I don't see enough television, but it seems there aren't many shows that are romantic comedies that are an hour long where you're not solving a crime or being a doctor.

I did a film called 'Puccini for Beginners,' which was a romantic comedy, and I always wanted to do more, but I kept doing drama.