I’m only realizing now that I was a child actress because I always took myself so seriously.

I should be so lucky to be a misfit. I aspire to be a misfit.

I love sitting in the makeup trailer and getting my makeup done in 15 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half.

My go-to gifts are scarves from my friend Matin Maulawizada’s nonprofit organization, Afghan Hands, which supports disenfranchised women in Afghanistan. In exchange for their beautiful embroidery, the women are given financial aid and classes in...

Psychology and acting are very closely linked. It’s just about studying people and how they work. It can be an incredible discipline and exercise.

My first offer was when I was 12, and it was for a soap opera. And I turned it down because I knew that I was an unformed actor, and I didn’t want to develop...

What I needed was a connection to life that was real and lasting.

I started working when I was very young. I got an agent when I was 12, and fortunately was employed consistently from that point on. So I didn’t really go to a conventional high school....

But I don’t know if people are meant to be together. You have to have a lot in common, choose well and be really fortunate. It’s not like you’re sprinkled with fairy dust. You have...

I hadn’t been free from adult responsibilities since I was 12, and I needed to experience that. I really needed to just be a kid again.

Television lets audiences deeply connect with characters.

I would not say that secret-keeping is one of my finer skills, actually.

I particularly love Israel. I’ve had fantastic experiences there.

There’s certainly something very uncomfortable about the voyeurism involved in being in the press, being an actor, where people have a seemingly insatiable curiosity about, you.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior. I am really interested in feelings and think they are what define us as a species. When you really get it right in acting,...

The big question is always, ‘Eyes or lips?’ I tend to go with the eyes because I’ve got a lot more material to work with now – and it saves me from reapplying lipstick! I’m...

You don’t realize how useful a therapist is until you see yourself on e and discover you have more problems than you ever dreamed of.

I think because I am as earnest as I am, people were accepting of my evolving into a certified, legitimate, and grown up and I did take three years off.

I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom. It just wouldn’t suit me.

I was a serious kid to an absurd degree. I was overwhelmed with responsibility. You know, trying to play grown up. I overdid it.

You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes.

Most people assume that autistic people are not capable of empathy.

I think ‘Breaking Bad’ is incredible.

When I was a kid, I was one of those really obnoxious ‘oooh oooh’ girls, with my hand up in the air constantly. I’ve learned over the years that that’s not so attractive, so I’ve...

I was a pretty nerdy kid. I was pretty nerdy. I’m still kind of nerdy. I have all of the worst qualities of being a nerd – all of the affect and none of the...

If I hadn’t been an actress, I was thinking seriously about going into psychology. It’s just really what I’m interested in: the human psyche and how we process information.

It’s funny with jeans now, because if they don’t feel like a pair of sweatpants, I don’t have patience for them anymore! I think I’m becoming increasingly lazy.

I think people who make movies and have invested a lot of money in them get frightened that if they challenge an audience they are going to repel them. And I think the opposite; it’s...

We just can’t shake monogamy. It definitely demands a kind of rigor and discipline and selflessness. But it’s also fun.

I’m just a big old nerd.

I used to have nightmares when I was a little kid that I woke up prematurely and opened all the Christmas presents. And then I would be so relieved when I woke up and I...

People in the CIA, they marry each other. They’re like actors! We have to travel without much warning to far-flung places, and it’s very hard to communicate what our experiences are like to those in...

I think it’s important to never play ‘crazy’ – you have to know what kind of crazy you’re playing.

Yeah, there was the Flora Plum thing, where I trained for about a month and I had taken a semester off for that, and two weeks prior to filming, the financing collapsed.

I have a huge, active imagination, and I think I’m really scared of being alone; because if I’m left to my own devices, I’ll just turn into a madwoman.

Growing up in New York with artist parents – a very liberal environment, where we were always encouraged to challenge the status quo – I think for a long time I confused jingoism with patriotism....

Actors want to surprise themselves. When it’s really good, you kind of transcend yourself, and that happens infrequently. Very, very rarely.

If I took my characters home with me, half of my life would be a misery, I think. No, I tend to compartmentalize work from my life. I’m not terribly method.

Counterterrorism isn’t really about the nunchakus, the guns and gadgets. It’s about psychology.

Any story is better with a little love in it, right?

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.

Acting is a humiliating job, from start to finish.

I was a very confident child. I knew I wanted to be an actress from the age of 5.

As a young performer, I didn’t know that you can have a great time playing someone in terrible crisis. The more you know it’s not real, the deeper you can go into it. And the...

Fame doesn’t end loneliness.

I would sign on for projects that were meant to shoot in July, and then they would postponed and they would bleed into the following semester, and then I’d take a semester off, and then...

I was very driven to act from a very young age, and my parents were not only tolerant of that drive but also encouraging.

On a film you can really get away with learning the scene the night before and that’s often just not possible with TV, so you have to be a little bit more prepared a little...

I like marriage. I feel very secure. It helps when you are in love with the person you are married to.

College was just so essential for my sense of self and my development.