I was born and grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, a small town of about 6,000. It was farm country, and this was the little county seat.

I had three influential teachers. The first was Uta Hagen. The second two, Bobby Lewis and my late husband, Charles Kakatsakis, were both from the Actors Studio.

I loved New York. I made enough money and studied acting with Kenneth McMillan, which was my first formal training.

The thing I always thought of myself as was an actress. I never thought: I want to be. It was always: I am.

It's in my nature to feel, 'I could be this! This could be mine!'

My whole thing is, I collect what I know I want to read, and I have certain bookshelves in my bedroom that contain all the books I haven't read yet.

New York, oh my God, in my early 20s. I felt, this is home, this is really where I belong.

To make money in New York, you have to add gigs when starting out, so while I was acting quite a bit, I would do modeling.

There is no longer a single idea explaining everything, but an infinite number of essences giving a meaning to an infinite number of objects. The world comes to a stop, but also lights up.

I've struggled with depression before. For me, music was always a very positive way to will myself out of that situation.

I hate superficial violence. It's shallow and stupid, and the impact on the audience is really bad.

What you say doesn't have to be great if people already like you.

The vast majority of species that are vanishing, we haven't even discovered yet. How can you possibly put them back in nature if the ecosystem is gone?

As to conforming outwardly and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that.

I adopted the theory of reincarnation when I was 26. Genius is experience. Some think to seem that it is a gift or talent, but it is the fruit of long experience in many lives

We measured our success not just by how much money we made, but by how much we contributed to the community. It was a two-part bottom line.

If your dream dies, dream another one. If things don't work out the way you've planned, God has a better plan for you.

All of the leading terrorism experts are clear on one thing: that in terms of protecting America, we are almost never going to know a place or a time of an attack.