Jewish American Actresses

"People talk about joy and happiness and ask me, ‘You seem like you’re so happy all the time’—and that’s just not the case. But I do choose it. And I choose it sometimes when it’s really hard to."

"I think awareness is probably a better word. Because if you are imbalanced, you’re aware enough to see it and to correct it."

"Because the only time I think about aging is when I’m asked about how I think about aging."

"There is something freeing in seeing yourself in a new context. People have no preconceived notion of who you are, and there is relief in knowing that you can re-create yourself. When you’re entrenched in a community of people who know you, it’s scary to proclaim wanting to be different and wanting to experiment. We went to the other side of the world to make our own sound. Usually this is a methodology you employ as a restart later in your career. We did it right up front. We traveled to a foreign country for our first record. We had to uproot ourselves, not because we were deep into career ruts, or didn’t want to give credit to the places we had come from, but because we had no desire to sound like or emulate anything that had come before.It was an extreme way to start, but I learned later on how hard it can become to unsettle yourself, to trip yourself up, and I think that’s a good place to write from. It’s important to undermine yourself and create a level of difficulty so the work doesn’t come too easily. The more comfortable you get, the more money you earn, the more successful you are, the harder it is to create situations where you have to prove yourself and make yourself not just want it, but need it. The stakes should always feel high."

"I would never ask an actor to do something that I wouldn't do. So I was right there with them. I would cry with them. I would be angry with them. I would yell with them. I would do everything first so that they could see that it's okay to do it that broad."

"The thing that really matters to me is well-being and happiness."

"I'm more reserved. I can be kind of shy in a group. Once I'm comfortable with someone, I'm not reserved."

"I did think that it was the sort of film that we could do together, and we had wanted to work together on something for some time."

"It was something about the way that we were together. He stood out to me as someone singular and rare and beautiful, and I liked the way he was in the world. I liked the way he was with people. I liked the way he was with my son and the way he made me feel."

"Lots of other people have won Oscars, too, and there are a lot of talented women my age working who could play the roles I go after just as well."

"It wasn’t until my late twenties that I realised acting could be a creative experience."

"I went through a really hard time at the end of last year. The biggest thing for me is that my kids grow up safely and have happy lives. For me, that’s enough."

"I got to spend the whole year with my kids and my husband. And that's wonderful. My job really suits me."

"I'm incredibly loyal, I like that. I'm not into trends and fads. I'm in it for the long haul. The same goes for relationships, business and personal. I believe in functioning that way."

"I don't really have a vested interest in what they do career-wise, so long as it's neither destructive to their bodies nor illegal. And hopefully not destructive to other people's bodies either."

"I'd like both of my kids to remain kids as long as possible until they actually have to become grown-ups, so I prefer none of them become professionals before adulthood."

"I didn't have a very rebellious personality, I was someone who wanted to make people happy. I was almost an overachiever kind of kid."

"I have a thing about honesty; I think it's crucial to a relationship. Otherwise, one person holds all the power. It's healthy to be straightforward, and it turns out you can wind up weathering a lot. Knowing that everything is on the table what you see is what you get lends a sense of safety."

"You have to do it. You can't keep thinking about it, you just sort of surrender to it, especially when you get the opportunity to work with great actors."

"It’s weird how much his death has affected me, especially how I feel now. I am much more conscious of how precious time is and I strive to find joy in everything. I catch myself quicker now when I start wasting my time worrying about silly things."

"I still don't know if I have the hang of it. It's kind of a work in progress but I've felt more invested than ever and committed and passionate since the birth of my son."

"Jennifer goes in very deep, not just about her character but everyone else's, line by line, page by page. She is driven by the desire to understand why we act the way we do, why we behave a certain way."

"I mean, my dad was there with me and my dad was just so proud and excited to be there and I was so happy to have him there with me and I don’t know, I connect that a lot with my dad in that experience of being there, being there with him and what it meant to him."

"My character has a lot of rapid-fire technical jargon, so wrapping your head around it and trying to say it with authority is a challenge. For me, the scenes that are more emotionally fraught, I always find the most fun to play."

"After working with him, he became a real hero of mine because he was so kind to me – I was a 14-year-old kid and knew nothing."

"Jennifer has really emerged in the last few years. She's very intelligent, a great beauty and has a lot of integrity. And she's developing this extraordinary screen presence."

"He was funny and gracious and made me feel so comfortable. He was amazing. Subsequently, I became a huge fan of his music."

"I can’t say exactly how it impacts me and changes me, but I feel like the process of doing that and really considering other perspectives, I feel like it offers some kind of teaching."

"And here we all are separated from people that we love and not able to go live the lives we’ve always loved. It is strange. I didn’t quite anticipate. I don’t think anyone anticipated being in this position now."

"Learn how to be a waiter."

"The work she did in the film was very sensitive. There was something in her character that struck a chord with her. I found her fascinating."

"I knew my career as an actor would change. I wouldn’t get these parts again. I had reached the age where Hollywood begins to humiliate beautiful women. I wasn’t going to do it. Walking up there, I could almost feel myself accepting that change."

"I don’t use a typewriter or a computer, so everything was written by pen and ink by my little desk. It took me four years to complete it, and as you can see, it wasn’t an easy book to write."

"It was like, one day you were an actress who could do anything, and the very next day, you could not work in film or television again. And that was the temper of the times."

"I had 12 years to make up for. I'm a very practical person. I had to support myself, I had to support my daughter, and I had to work. And if the way that I could work was to have the years taken off my age at that time, I was desperate to do it. I had to be able to go from one job to another and be pretty. And I achieved that for a good long time. I made up those 12 years."

"For an actor, you sometimes have to say yes to these type of jobs. Especially when you get older, and are a woman."

"I think the most important impetus in life, is that it not be boring. The fear of boredom drove me more than any yearning for something I wanted to achieve."

"I’m in my 90s and it’s lovely to have any of my films appreciated."

"I was a bird imitating the birds. And so it was their kind of imaginary world that I was raised in, and it was part delicious and part confusing."

"I don't know. Just walk. Just walk. My daughter Dinah just found out that a book she’s written, a novel, is being published. It’s very exiting. Maybe we’ll get to go to some great New York bookstore once everything’s back and see it up their on the shelves. That would be fun to walk to."

"The 1950s and early '60s were emotionally rough for me. In 1950, when I was 23, I was named a Communist by Red Channels, an anti-Communist pamphlet, and was blacklisted by Hollywood from 1952 until the early 1960s."

"The new music I have coming, I’ve been working on. All my fans know and they are waiting so patiently or impatiently actually. Its kind of an never-ending process really. I continue to grow each and every day as a write and as a person. There’s more that I want to talk about. There’s more that I am comfortable talking about. I’m constantly being inspired by new artists and producers. I’m definitely taking my time with this."

"From 8 to about 12, I learned very quickly what rejection felt like, what going into a room full of adults expecting a lot out of you felt like. I realized that I'd be in these situations where I had to present myself as someone who, whether I was or wasn't, is confident enough to follow through with the job that I was trying to get."

"I'm very excited about the fact that this is just a very small taste of what's to come. I cannot wait to put music out. It's been a long time coming. It is absolutely going to represent a new era. I've been living with what I've been working on for years now, a couple years, which I really do feel I needed in order to get to where I'm at with the music. And though it is rather frustrating. I have the most patient fans, I don't know how but I got so lucky."

"With [my] music, I feel like I get to be myself, tell my own story, and take my life experiences and not put them into another story but into my own words."

"I think finding your balance is truly about finding your happiness and being patient with yourself and being kind to yourself. It is a term that we hear a lot along with a lot of suggestions as to maybe how to find that balance, but I think you are the one, the only one, that can really define what that is for you."

"I didn't know that I was starving till I tasted you Don't need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo By the way, right away, you do things to my body I didn't know that I was starving till I tasted youBy the way, right away, you do things to my body I didn't know that I was starving till I tasted you"

"I want to get louder I got to get louder We 'bout to go up baby, up we go We 'bout to go up baby, up we goWe're blowing out speakers Our heart a little clearer We 'bout to go up baby, up we go We 'bout to go up baby, up we goFor worst or for better Gonna give it to you In capital letters"

"Gonna love myself, no, I don't need anybody else (hey) Gonna love myself, no, I don't need anybody else (I love me) Can't help myself, no, I don't need anybody else Anytime, day or nightGonna love myself, no, I don't need anybody else (hey) Gonna love myself, no, I don't need anybody else (I love me) Can't help myself, no, I don't need anybody else Anytime that I like (I love me)"

"I've never left a workout or a gym session feeling anything other than great and happier. Just knowing what my body is capable of and being able to challenge myself…it does something for you mentally that not a lot of other things do."