Actresses From New York City

"I was an extremely fortunate young woman as an actor. I got a job at The Public Theater and I also landed a job on a soap opera."

"I think I made a huge mistake, the mistake was that I began to expect," said Leo. "The mistake I made was to expect all those big, important fellas to call me up."

"We are all born with a talent and the sweetest part of life comes to us when we allow ourselves to recognize what is that talent. Sometimes our mind, or friends, or parents tell us something, but it’s inside of us where this talent lies, only we can really know."

"I think being a female actor makes it more difficult in exactly the ways that any female on the planet finds the difficulty of our gender. There’s a huge misunderstanding about who we are and how we operate, a lot because of the way women are depicted in film and television."

"Sex addiction can be an inability to really connect with people. It can show up in all kinds of places and it can be masked by drug and alcohol addictions. I feel very proud to be apart of Unlovable and open up this conversation."

"It’s a difficult thing for a woman to say, because I would really like more working women in all kinds of jobs, being a working woman myself."

"I understand the value of humor and I do believe laughter is a good medicine."

"Television can be a very frustrating job for almost anybody working in television, because you’re shooting episodically, and you don’t know one scene from the next, and maybe they change around."

"“I told everyone I knew. No one said, Hey, this is sexual harassment. You should go to the authorities. You have a case. You should go to the police."

"Everyone is delighted to be doing what they’re doing and they’re doing it at a very high level. When people have great talent and great vision, and they are good and kind a generous and empowering, it’s infectious."

"I want to affect change. I like to advocate. I like to influence legislative change, and I have helped pass more than 10 laws."

"I actually thought it would end my career for good and I’d never work again. There haven’t really been whistle-blowers before that who continued to work. If you look at people who brought these accusations forward, they were not believed and they were shunned."

"I am not scared to death facing it. It will certainly give me a card to play with at the poker game of Hollywood. That can't hurt at all."

"Yes. People are returning to things that really matter. Honesty. Kindness. Altruism. Living a true and honest life that doesn’t have anything to do with the outside of things, but the interior, the inner world. It’s not about materialism, but heart."

"I don’t like to go over territory that I’ve explored before. And I’d never played a peasant woman."

"My favorite kind of character is funny, strange, and vulnerable all kind of mixed together, so this is sort of my sweet spot."

"It may have to do with my ego, wanting to be famous, wanting to be adored, wanting to be loved. ... Maybe I associated some sort of romance with the theater."

"And if you can stay open through a long run and not get too rigidly identified with how you're doing certain lines, the process of discovering goes on through the length of the performance of the piece."

"I do occasionally read for things, and I have to say that I feel like every other young actor who is nervous before an audition. Even now, I still hate auditioning. I never liked auditioning."

"It’s hard to get a job after that, People think you want more money."

"She's very open, very diligent and very gifted, she cared about the work of others, not just her own. It is not the usual ugly greed you find in some actresses today."

"It’s from people seeing you even in classes and talking about you that eventually your name and what you do gets known, if you care passionately enough about the art of acting."

"Each one of us grappled with that choice to speak or not to speak because it seemed like there was a very high potential for backlash and blacklisting."

"She told my son the story of 'Big' in a wonderful way, Then she told my husband and me that she was going to give it one more year and then quit. 'Big' saved her from that."

"I’ve always had faith in the goodwill of others, I feel like a really lucky person to be able to have a second act based on merit and perseverance more than anything else."

"You have to keep pressing through despair."

"It’s been one of the greatest acting challenges of my life,"

"There's that aesthetic of letting go of the self and trying to submit yourself for the art. People take advantage of that. People have always taken advantage of that."

"You know I think all of us in life are constantly — at different points in our lives — confronted with situations where we have to make choices which define us. And you know that you have to remain a morally upstanding person."

"All the great roles are tough-cookie roles, They’re the women you meet and can’t forget. They’ve got stuff! They’re generally women who have met and not allowed themselves to be overcome by challenges."

"When you’re suddenly in the limelight, you can make a few mistakes. Success has a way of distorting people: distorting your expectations, distorting your personality, distorting your sense of your own value. It takes a very strong sense of character to not let that happen or to notice that it’s happening."

"He is the most loving father, the most brilliant actor, the most beautiful operatic tenor, the most talented visual artist- the wisest and most human advice giver."

"Obviously it’s very different because this is the great cathedral of nature, but it’s calming to my spirit and restful and refocuses you on what is beautiful and important."

"I’m not sure I started out as a great mother. I think I learned how to be a good mother."

"I’ve had trouble sleeping for a good part of my life, And what I would always do is start at the very beginning of ‘The Miracle Worker’ and say all of the lines, all the way through."

"I always felt pressure as a child to perform, but again that came from the people who were managing my career. There was no such thing as halfway, I had to do it to the hilt."

"You know sometimes when you act, you work through some things as if you would in a therapy session."

"That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. But then, things often don’t turn out the way you plan."

"I think maybe the most important part of her legacy is her acting. Above and beyond anything, the reason any of the other stuff is possible in terms of the scope of the impact that she was able to have with people was her talent and her work and her work ethic, her discipline. She worked extremely hard."

"She’s much more together and mature. She’s raised two kids and five stepchildren, and she’s a grandmother. I can’t get over that."

"Whatever this thing is that takes over you, that says that you are worthless, that really the only answer is to kill yourself, is so much more powerful that that's... the calling you relate to."

"All that hitting out and pulling and tugging every performance for two years was probably a kind of therapy for me, a release. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to me if I adjust had to hold it all in."

"There was so much suffering, She really, really suffered in a way that — we were desperate to help relieve her suffering, and so it's just a blessing that she's not suffering anymore."

"I wrote the book not to have a catharsis, because I was under the impression that I already have had many catharses as one could have."

"First when there's nothing But a slow glowing dream That your fear seems to hide Deep inside your mindAll alone I have cried Silent tears full of pride In a world made of steel Made of stoneWell, I hear the music Close my eyes, feel the rhythm Wrap around Take a hold of my heartWhat a feeling Bein's believin' I can have it all Now I'm dancing for my lifeTake your passion And make it happen Pictures come alive You can dance right through your life"

"I would say focus is really the number one. Each day I allowed myself to forget who I am for the moment. You have to kind of lose yourself and not think about just how brave Mulan is. Yes, I am playing a hero, so we need to bring out that side, but I think every human being is complex, and complex is so beautiful. And that’s where the energy of the character is."

"I think it’s important in every culture that we treat family respectfully. We’re being thankful and we’re showing love. I think if you ask me what family means, I would say it is unconditional love. So at this point in time, I think it’s still another universal language."

"I’m very lucky but I don’t want to put on too much pressure, because pressure means doubt. For me, the spirit of Mulan is the simpleness and the unspeakable belief and strength. This power inspires me."

"Like most female actresses, I am always aspiring to succeed and become a popular star, and my positive energy never dies out. And it wasn’t until entering my twenties that I began to identify my real dream as an actress. I realized that acting is not all about receiving people’s applause or cheer. It is about delivering the right character to the audience and feeling satisfied in who you become on stage. Therefore, I try to focus more on the abstract qualities of acting, and I hope to become a better actress throughout time."

"But at its core, Mulan is really about the character, the spirit. She is such a famous character, but I also wanted to be myself. It was all about balance and choice. It’s always brave to be yourself."