This business is filled with really talented actors, and I'm sure there's a lot of guys out there who could have also brought something really special to the roles I have played. I just feel lucky that I get a chance to do them.

I have never planned my career. I chose those films with which I could relate myself. But if given a chance, I would love to do the kind of roles Meryl Streep has done.

Most critics of gender division are women, and they're worried about girls and the roles presented for them by gendered entertainments. They are quite right to be. Telling girls that the cars and the guns are beyond their domain of expertise, and that they should content themselves with clothes and friendships, is limiting.

I think 'No' is a very powerful word in our business that is very hard to use early on in your career. But I also think I was pretty arrogant when I was younger... I used that word maybe too much, but it did help me with finding roles that I did like.

There are definitely roles within this industry that are industry-related, but to be a good actor, you really have to want to act first. At the same time, my goal was never to go to Hollywood to make movies. I think if you come here with that attitude, then you've missed a few steps.

I have a real taste for doing action roles. I starred in a movie called 'Blast,' which was my first action film, and I loved the fighting - I think I've got the build, the attitude and the look for it.

My attitude goes back to my childhood. I used to audition for theatrical roles, and you can't stand out in a room full of ambitious eight-year-old girls by acting the wallflower. I realised then that I couldn't do things half-heartedly.

Audiences like me doing action and comedy. I am a jovial person and have been so from childhood. I like to laugh my way through my work, and that attitude reflects in my roles. Even women hate me doing rona-dhona roles. So I don't do emotional films.

My mom was funny and nutty. I suppose she had to be to survive raising 10 kids. To cope and keep a cap on things, she kept us buoyant and harmonious. She wouldn't let us express anger, which later on landed me in therapy but also made it easier for me to play laid-back, measured roles.

We're comfortable with women in certain roles but not comfortable with women expressing anger or fully accepting their power. The most daring question a woman can ask is, 'What do I want?'

I want roles without anger and feistiness. I want to show weakness and sadness, some love, some happiness.

That's double-edged: it's amazing that they're bringing me in and showing people new ideas, and at the same time it's a little hard because seventy percent of the time or even higher I'm not going to get those roles.

'Chasing Amy' was an amazing role, but then after that, I went and did 'Big Daddy' and you're the girlfriend or you're the best friend. I wasn't getting the Nicole Kidman roles.

I want to do amazing roles fit for my age in 30 years. I'm sure I'll be less popular and have less offers then, but I think I'll be able to do act well for my age at the time.

I feel like every year there's a thing about 'not enough roles for ladies!' and, then, also an article, like 'The Year of The Woman.' I think that we all just know in our hearts they're underrepresented. But that doesn't mean that there aren't amazing moments.

Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self when one does not lack wit and is familiar with all the niceties of language. Language is a prostitute queen who descends and rises to all roles. Disguises herself, arrays herself in fine apparel, hides her head and effaces herself; an advocate who has an answer for everything, who has always foreseen everything, and who assumes a thousand forms in order to be right. The most honorable of men is he who thinks best and acts best, but the most powerful is he who is best able to talk and write

"I define my roles as a woman, whether that means a mother at home, a CEO, both, neither

Tous les bruits de l'univers ? le hurlement du vent, le ressac de la mer, le cr?pitement du feu, les cris des animaux, les chants et les paroles des hommes ? sont les vibrations du mantra, le son du dharma spontan?ment manifest?.

I'm so proud of myself for all the battles I've secretly overcome. I'm grateful for all the people that left to make room for genuine connections. I'm grateful for all the opportunities that ended so I could stretch into new roles. I'm grateful that I've learned to clap for my success without an audience. Most importantly I'm grateful for the opportunity to experience God as Love. I'm just grateful. #devinepressure

Do not let the roles you play in life make you forget that you are human.

"One side of the church auditorium was shouting, "Halle-Loo, Halle-Loo, Halle-Loo, Halle-loo-yah!" The other side would retort at a volume many decibels above a jet airplane's with the phrase, "Praise ? Ye ? The ? Lord." They would counter each other several times before switching roles.

The institutions of human society treat us as parts of a machine. They assign us ranks and place considerable pressure upon us to fulfill defined roles. We need something to help us restore our lost and distorted humanity. Each of us has feelings that have been suppressed and have built up inside. There is a voiceless cry resting in the depths of our souls, waiting for expression. Art gives the soul's feelings voice and form.

"Teach her that the idea of 'gender roles' is absolute nonsense. Do not ever tell her that she should or should not do something because she is a girl.

Do not let the roles you play in life make you forget who you are.