#*favpeople

You don't have to play masculine to be a strong woman.

"The most complicated and messy roles I've been able to get have been offered through women. I'm just so buoyed and galvanized that the juiciest part of [my career] has been post-kids... I never anticipated that. So that's terribly exciting."

We could talk about this forever, but I think our culture is still misogynistic, and it’s very hard to even investigate the language and definitions on this stuff. I [could be like], “Oh, yeah, men are stronger because of the physical things they can do”. But after having two children, I’m like, “Oh, now wait one second”. We’re defining it through the wrong lens. If we’re just talking about physical strength and being strong, then women are the strongest people I know. That’s why I love Wonder Woman so much because it was such a beautiful portrayal of women’s strength, as well as our empathy and humanity and willingness to be vulnerable and connect emotionally, which are also strengths. Strength to me isn’t just a character who doesn’t take shit from anyone.

“I want to become an actress who makes people ask, ‘What does she do when she’s not acting?’ and ‘Why did she choose that role?’ when I’m working on a project. One of my favorite reviews is, ‘I don’t usually watch things like this but I watched because I was curious.’ I like that I made someone curious.”

“I often hear actors say during their interviews: 'I want to play a crazy person, a murderer, or someone who's on edge.' But that question scares me. I mean, of course there are characters I'd like to play, but I can't really say specifically who they are. It's much too hard to play a convincing normal person as it is.”

"Figure out which labels disempower you and which labels shine with the light of the beauty of who you are or are meant to be."

“I’m constantly on the verge of tears at the thought of anything sad, or happy—anything, really.”

They wouldn’t let me audition [for “Hercules”] because I was playing Belle [on Broadway] for them at the time, and Meg and Belle are very different. They saw me as Belle, so I sort of had to say: “No. Let me show you what else I can do.”