I started acting, when I was 15, in commercials and guest roles. I was definitely a working actor, so I was thankful for that. But I never had to work at a store, although I would have liked to.

I'm very thankful I'm finding my way, and people are excited to bring me into roles that demand a certain complexity.

The truth is, after Boys Don't Cry, I realized how few and far between the great roles are. I am beyond thankful for finding Million Dollar Baby.

It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming that a new technology is very similar to its predecessors. A new technology is often perceived as the linear extension of the previous one, and this leads us to believe the new technology will fill the same roles - just a little faster or a little smaller or a little lighter.

I don't want to do panel games or adverts. I really like challenges. I always get roles as an art teacher or a photographer. In the future I want to play something like a mugger/assassin/pastry chef.

Of course, every actor wants to play as many roles on the Richter scale as they can, and Rachel Koresh certainly is very different from Supergirl, but she shares a lot of the strength that Supergirl has.

Those are the kinds of roles you can really sink your teeth into. Characters with an edge. When you're playing someone who's sort of seedy, there's less limitation, there's so much space you can travel. There's room to move in.

The roles that men and women play are no longer the standard traditional roles of way back when but are those of two very individual people living their lives. I think it's been a hard transition in society - just take a look at the divorce rate - to figure out what that means now. How do you resolve that?

Yes, people used to recognise me even during the initial days of my career as I am an actor. But now they have started approaching me with a smile and share their happiness with me. This change is all because of my humorous roles.

I don't remember ever deciding to become a performer. I just always was. I began performing by mimicking the performers on the new television that first took the attention away from me as the baby of the household. I continued performing to put a smile on my grandmother's face and always considered her when accepting or declining roles.

I like devilish, thorny, dirty, mean roles, muck and mire, unbelievably sad, unbelievably happy, burdened. Inner conflict - that's where drama is.

I have played so many romantic roles that I don't know if I am really a romantic in real life. I get confused about the real me.

I don't want to do romantic roles where I have to lip sync to a song. A role that explores romance on a new level would suit me.

Once I got married and had kids, I moved away from romantic roles, because it seemed wrong to have my three-year-old wondering why Daddy was kissing someone else.

In the West, audiences think I am a stereotyped action star, or that I always play hitmen or killers. But in Hong Kong, I did a lot of comedy, many dramatic films, and most of all, romantic roles, lots of love stories. I was like a romance novel hero.

As far as the lack of hits goes, I think perhaps it's because I've played a lot of different roles and have not created a persona that the public can latch on to. I have played everything from psychopathic killers to romantic leading men, and in picking such diverse roles I have avoided typecasting.

I've been really lucky to have had a variety of roles, and I don't think I'm in danger of being typecast as the romantic lead. I think there's honour in working as constantly as you can. That isn't easy. And I'm no matinee idol.

America's liberal arts universities have long been safe zones for leftist thinking, protected ivory towers for the pseudo-elite who earn their livings writing papers nobody reads about gender roles in the poetry of Maya Angelou.

The kinds of roles dogs fill can be hard to come by in human relationships. We touch the dog or the pet at whim. There is a lack of self-consciousness and a fluidity to it that is absent from most human relationships. If someone acted that way to you, you'd feel claustrophobic pretty quickly. It's a boundary violation.

Our stories come from our lives and from the playwright's pen, the mind of the actor, the roles we create, the artistry of life itself and the quest for peace.

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.

Being a wife and mother are the single most important roles in my life. They take a lot of work, a lot of patience, and help from God and His Word, but if you put in the effort, it's more fulfilling than anything on earth.

I hope to find the roles that are age appropriate but not yearning to be younger, or parenting ad nauseam.

My passion is doing movies, and as long as I keep doing that, I'll be happy. I want to do movies, fun roles and dramatic ones. I love all of it.