Sherilyn Fenn

"I try to keep myself centered. I don't go to parties and all that. I don't think being seen or being in the right place is going to make me a better actress. I care about my work and try to do what's right in my heart."

"Audrey’s been great for me. She has brought out a side of me that’s more mischievous and fun that I had suppressed, trying to be an adult. She has made it OK to use the power one has as a woman to be manipulative at times, to be precocious. She goes after what she wants vehemently and she takes it. I think that’s really admirable. I love that about her."

"The world has certain rules — Hollywood has certain rules — but it doesn't mean you have to play by them, and I don't, or I'd be a miserable person."

"I see people giving me looks because I'm so opinionated. That hurts my feelings, but at the end of the day I have to live with me and respect myself. And I've done enough things in my life where I was confused and didn't respect myself that I will not do it any more."

"The studios have their list of five actresses and whether they’re right or wrong for a role doesn’t matter. It’s how much money their last movie made."

"They’ve offered me every variation on Audrey Horne, none of which were as good or as much fun."

"I like taking risks and I decided to put every bit of me into the role."

"I don't know why people see the things that they do. I wouldn't pay to see them, they don't touch me or move me in any way."

"People who think they know me would be surprised that my whole life doesn't revolve around sex."

"There are stereotypes of what a beautiful woman is. She struggled with that. A certain part of her life she went on that calling card. I certainly know I've come into contact with that. ‘You are too pretty,’ I'm told."

"I was told once that I didn't play the Hollywood game, and that's why I wasn't a big star. What they meant when they said that was that I don't go to parties, and when I go to an audition and I don't like the script, they know it. I don't flirt and I don't play the people that I'm meeting with. In the next breath, this person said to me, ‘When you're passionate about a role, there's nobody that can touch you, but you have to learn to do this also...’ But I don't know how to sit there and pretend I love something when I don't!"

"I think there's an anxiety in life when we automatically tend to look to the next thing or we're complaining about the past; like somebody recently said to me, 'Well, is your show going to get picked up? Aren't you concerned about that?' I said, 'I don't care. I don't want to worry about that because worrying is not going to make it happen or not happen.' I want to trust that if it does, then that's what's supposed to happen and if it doesn't get picked up, then that's okay, too. It's just a more peaceful way to live."

"Playing Elizabeth Taylor was probably the hardest job I’ve ever done."

"Boxing Helena was something that I think was pretty cool, but people judged it without even having seen it. It’s not perfect, but I think for the story that we were trying to tell, it turned out pretty good. What it signified was really powerful to me: how society puts us in boxes one way or another."

"She’s got a brain and all the right emotional instincts, and that’s a great combination."

"One of the keys to understanding Fenn is that when she talks about the characters she plays she's really talking about herself."

"A lot of the sentiment that acting should be about an art form rather than mass entertainment and celebrity is at the core of Fenn’s attitude to the business."

"She’s like a terribly sad angel in this film. Sherilyn plays against just being a sexy and beautiful girl. Hopefully her performance in my film will show her deep talent because she certainly showed the right mix of innocence and seductiveness for the role. We needed a fresh face but also one who knew what she was doing."

"She's a mysterious girl and I think that actresses like her who have a mystery — where there's something hiding beneath the surface — are the really interesting ones."

"Director Kevin Connor and I arranged a lunch, not an audition. We knew 10 minutes into our meeting that Sherilyn was it. She has the same striking beauty, and because of that she's experienced some of the things in life and in this business that make Elizabeth such a fascinating person."

"With Sherilyn Fenn, Twin Peaks came on and effortlessly destroyed every other show’s sexuality."