When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was to escape what I thought was the country and get to a city. Probably film and television had influenced me so much, I really thought the key to happiness was living a very artificial life in a penthouse in New York with martini glasses.
It's a shame how a lot of actors use theater as a stepping stone to film and television work; I think it shouldn't be treated that way. Maybe it's narcissism or something. I think we should always go back to it. I try and do a play a year, and I think that's really helped me.
It's extremely difficult and very challenging to be a woman in film and television. Just showing up in this business forces you to know yourself. But I learned how to deal with rejection and get tough when I was working as a model - it taught me how to put myself out there. In a way, my time modelling was a preparation for life.
The impact that movies, film, and TV have on me - the way that they can toy with my emotions - is beautiful, and I've always wanted to do that for other people.
The things that I gravitate toward in film and TV are things that make me laugh but then break my heart.
People ask me about fighting in real life and, honestly, it wouldn't look as graceful as it does in film and TV.
I went to theatre school for four years and just wanted to do theatre. I had no ambition to be on TV or to be on camera. I just wanted to go to New York or London and be on stage... I did a lot of theatre in Montreal, got involved in TV in Toronto and then moved to L.A. I hope that film and TV will take me back to theatre.
In theater, you're allowed to take your time and sit in a role for a month before you have to share it with anybody. In film and TV, you have to just kind of show up and be ready to do that, which, to me, is very strange and crazy.
I did not go into the film business to be symbolized as someone else's vision of me.
There were six kids in our family, and I grew up fast. I had to do a lot of things on my own. I was a rebellious teenager. That's why coming into the film business was good for me because it gave me some discipline. Once I became an actor, I had to grow up a little more.
As a woman, absolutely, I have had to deal with people making advances at me, but not just people from the business of film industry but people across different professions and different strata. I think it has a lot to do with power; it is not only limited to the film business.
The film business, for me, has been great, but the music business, we've always been on the outside looking in.
Farber had a huge effect on me as a writer. I don't mean I write like him. Farber is, first of all, a great stylist, a great writer. Anyone can read Manny Farber's film criticism, whether that person is a novelist, a poet, another critic, a historian, and learn a lot about writing by reading him.
Working with film directors helps me grow, but nothing like the incremental jumps I make onstage.
Being at a film festival reminds me of the power of film. The power that we have in our hands. Telling specific stories about personal matters can start the debate that is needed today, and that connect you with realities that you had no idea were connected.
Our films are changing so people across the world can see them - when 'Highway' premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, a Polish lady said to me, 'It has a strong message for women.' So it's good to know our films are connecting universally.
I quite like that people tend not to know my name. I remember being at the Cannes film festival for 'All or Nothing.' I looked very different in the film - I had a little greasy bob and no makeup. I went to a dinner after the screening, and everyone completely ignored me. I got a real buzz out of that.
You try to get out there and live. I've always had good friends who've been very supportive and help make me feel good and grounded because I've never felt attached to the film industry.
Film music has given me everything - career and popularity.
My experience and growth in the film music world and the time I've spent studying legendary film composers have given me depth of insight into how music can inspire a range of emotions.
