birthdays: Julianne Moore (info)

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Julianne Moore

was born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of a Scottish-born social worker mother, Anne (Love), and an American military judge and colonel father, Peter Moore Smith, Jr., who was originally from New Jersey.

Moore spent the early years of her life in over two dozen locations around the world with her parents before she finally found her place at Boston University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree in acting from the School of the Performing Arts. After graduation (in 1983), Julianne moved to New York and worked extensively in theater, including appearances off-Broadway in two Caryl Churchill plays, Serious Money and Ice Cream With Hot Fudge and as Ophelia in Hamlet at The Guthrie Theatre. But despite her formal training, Julianne fell into the attractive actress' trap of the mid-1980's: TV soaps and miniseries. She appeared briefly in the daytime serial The Edge of Night (1956) and from 1985 to 1988 she played two half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina on the soap As the World Turns (1956). This performance later led to an Outstanding Ingénue Daytime Emmy Award in 1988. Her subsequent appearances were in mostly forgettable TV-movies, such as Dinero, poder y asesinato (1989), Nunca digas adiós(1991) and Hechizo letal (1991). She made her entrance into the big screen with 1990's El gato infernal (1990), where she played the victim of a mummy. Two years later, Julianne appeared in feature films with supporting parts in La mano que mece la cuna(1992) and the comedy ¡Por fin soy culpable! (1992). She kept winning better and more powerful roles as time went on, including a small but memorable role as a doctor who spots Kimble Harrison Ford and attempts to thwart his escape in El fugitivo (1993). (A role that made such an impression on Steven Spielberg that he cast her in the Parque Jurásico (1993) sequel without an audition in 1997). In one of Moore's most distinguished performances, she recapitulated her "beguiling Yelena" from Andre Gregory's workshop version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in Louis Malle's critically acclaimed Vania en la calle 42(1994). Director Todd Haynes gave Julianne her first opportunity to take on a lead role in Safe (1995). Her portrayal of Carol White, an affluent L.A. housewife who develops an inexplicable allergic reaction to her environment, won critical praise as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Later that year she found her way into romantic comedy, co-starring as Hugh Grant's pregnant girlfriend in Nueve meses (1995). Following films included Asesinos (1995), where she played an electronics security expert targeted for death (next to Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas) and Sobrevivir a Picasso(1996), where she played Dora Maar, one of the numerous lovers of Picasso (portrayed by her hero, Anthony Hopkins). A year later, after co-starring in Spielberg's El mundo perdido (Jurassic Park) (1997), opposite Jeff Goldblum, a young and unknown director, Paul Thomas Anderson asked Julianne to appear in his movie, Boogie Nights (1997). Despite her misgivings, she finally was won over by the script and her decision to play the role of Amber Waves, a loving porn star who acts as a mother figure to a ragtag crew, proved to be a wise one, since she received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Julianne started 1998 by playing an erotic artist in El gran Lebowski (1998), continued with a small role in the social comedy Chicago Cab (1997) and ended with a subtle performance in Gus Van Sant's remake of Psicosis (1960). 1999 had Moore as busy as an actress can be. She starred in a number of high-profile projects, beginning with Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune (1999) , in which she was cast as the mentally challenged but adorable sister of a decidedly unhinged Glenn Close. A portrayal of the scheming Mrs. Cheveley followed in Oliver Parker's Un marido ideal (1999) with a number of critics asserting that Moore was the best part of the movie. She then enjoyed another collaboration with director Anderson in Magnolia (1999) and continued with an outstanding performance in El fin del romance (1999), for which she garnered another Oscar nomination. She ended 1999 with another great performance, that of a grieving mother in Mi mapa del mundo (1999), opposite Sigourney Weaver. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Catherine Grace

Spouse (2)
Bart Freundlich (23 August 2003 - present) (2 children)
John Gould Rubin (3 May 1986 - 25 August 1995) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Red hair and green eyes

Cries in emotional scenes

Frequently portrays adulteresses

Known for portraying strong, female characters.

Trivia

Born at 5:53 PM (EST).

Graduated from Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany in 1979.

Graduated from Boston University's School of the Arts.

Moved into $900,000 3-bedroom loft in Greenwich Village. [November 1999]

Worked briefly as part-time waitress in Boston, Massachusetts.

Is a staunch pro-choice advocate and an active member of Planned Parenthood.

Born Julie Anne Smith, she had to change her name when she registered with the Actors Guild as every variation of her name seemed to be taken. She then combined her first two names and assumed her father's middle name as her surname.

Lived in Juneau, Alaska, for about a year and a half and attended school there from 1971-1972.

Was considered for the lead role of Kate McQueen in Caza legal (1995), which eventually went to Cindy Crawford.

After Jodie Foster turned down the chance to reprise her Oscar-winning role of Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001), several actresses were considered for the part. Moore triumphed over such contenders as Helen Hunt, Gillian Anderson and Cate Blanchett.

In order to convincingly portray the role of a housewife suffering from an immune disorder in Safe (1995), she lost 10 pounds off of her already petite frame.

She reads every script she receives.

Her younger brother, Peter Moore Smith, is an author and has written the book "Raveling", for which Moore has bought the film rights. She also has a younger sister named Valerie.

She was on Entertainment Weekly's list of "The 25 Greatest Actresses of the '90s" (issue date: 11/20/98).

Chosen as one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" list.

Andre Gregory, who directed her onstage in "Uncle Vanya", said that "she evoked the sensuality and urgency of a young Joan Crawford, but with more depth, more contradictions".

Louis Malle, who directed her in Vania en la calle 42 (1994), said that "she made him think of the greatest of all ravaged beauties, Jeanne Moreau".

Moved into $2.65-million duplex penthouse in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Daughter is Liv Freundlich (b. 11 April 2002). Father is Bart Freundlich.

Son is Caleb Freundlich (b. 4 December 1997). Father is Bart Freundlich.

She is one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and a Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year. In 2003, she was nominated for a Supporting Oscar for her role in Las horas (2002), and in the Lead category for her role in Lejos del cielo (2002). The other nine are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Jessica Lange, Al Pacino, Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Cate Blanchett and Jamie Foxx.

She and Joan Cusack played pregnant women in Nueve meses (1995). In 1997, their own sons were born.

While in college, she auditioned for the prestigious Guthrie Theater Drama School at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota, but continued to pursue her BFA at Boston instead. A few years later, she performed at the Guthrie Theater in the Ensamble, production of George Bernard Shaw "Heartbreak House".

She and her El fin del romance (1999) co-star Ralph Fiennes have acted in separate Hannibal Lecter films: she in Hannibal (2001) and he in El dragón rojo (2002).

In Evolution (2001), she works with Ted Levine. Levine played Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb in El silencio de los corderos (1991), who is killed by Clarice Starling, later played by Moore in Hannibal (2001).

Received triple nominations from the Screen Actors Guild Awards in both 2000 and 2003.

Late in 2001, she appeared in Atando cabos (2001) with Scott Glenn. Glenn had played Jack Crawford in El silencio de los corderos (1991). Moore appeared in the sequel Hannibal (2001).

Has appeared in Boogie Nights (1997), El gran Lebowski (1998) and Magnolia (1999) with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Both of them have played characters in the Hannibal Lecter series. Moore played Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001), and Hoffman played Freddie Lounds in El dragón rojo (2002).

In 2003, when she was nominated for two Oscars, she was in competition with her co-stars from Las horas (2002); Nicole Kidman (for Las horas (2002)) and Meryl Streep (for Adaptation (El ladrón de orquídeas) (2002)). Kidman won for Best Actress.

Has appeared in El mundo perdido (Jurassic Park) (1997), the sequel to Parque Jurásico(1993), in which Laura Dern was the heroine. Also appears in Hannibal (2001), the sequel to El silencio de los corderos (1991), in which Jodie Foster preceded her as Clarice Starling. Laura Dern and Jodie Foster appeared together in Alicia ya no vive aquí (1974).

Friends with Ellen Barkin.

Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1996.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was suggested in the Worst Actress category for her performance in El color del crimen(2006), but she failed to receive a nomination.

Parents married when they were 19 and 20 years old.

Her father was a lawyer in the United States Army, and the family moved 23 times before she turned 18. She went to nine different schools.

Chose to remain uncredited in her role as the voice of "Aria" in La conspiración del pánico(2008).

Participated in the 3rd Munchkin's Project Pink annual breast cancer awareness campaign to raise money for breast cancer research. The project consists of the donation of celebrity-decorated and autographed bath ducks, put up for auction. [October 2008]

Artist ambassador for "Save the Children".

Her mother, Ann Love Smith, died on April 29, 2009 at age 68.

Her father was a judge in the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps and her mother was a psychiatric social worker.

She didn't learn to swim until she was 26, and only learned to drive at age 27.

In an interview for Inside the Actors Studio: Julianne Moore (2002), she stated that Ralph Fiennes is her favorite leading man. They portrayed lovers in El fin del romance (1999).

Was one month pregnant with son Caleb Freundlich when she completed filming El gran Lebowski (1998).

Was 4 months pregnant with her daughter, Liv Freundlich, when she completed filming on Lejos del cielo (2002).

Ralph Fiennes, her co-star in El fin del romance (1999), said of her, being interviewed for Inside the Actors Studio: Ralph Fiennes (2006): "Julianne Moore has the most extraordinary spirit to act opposite. And funny, and sense of humor - we giggled a lot. I felt so relaxed with her. And her humor - not only her great talent, but her humor. A great friendship, and I am still friends with Julianne. So that's changed me, I've made a friend who I trust and love and would love to work with again.".

Turned down the role of Deirdre Burroughs in Recortes de mi vida (2006) due to scheduling conflicts. The role went to Annette Bening.

Turned down the leading role in the crime series Principal sospechoso (2011), which went to Maria Bello.

Turned down the opportunity to portray Hillary Clinton in the HBO film La relación especial(2010) due to scheduling conflicts. The role went to Hope Davis.

$127,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from her New York City apartment [October 4, 2012].

Nominated for an Outstanding Actress award for her work in Game Change (2012) at The Women's Image Network (WIN) Awards 2012.

Has an "obsession" with furniture designers Paavo Tynell and Harvey Probber.

Her very first role on stage came in sixth grade when she played the Little Red-Haired Girl in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining, New York. She was scared and did not like it.

Husband Bart's family name "Freundlich" is German for "friendly".

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 3, 2013.

Received two Best Actress Awards at the Venice Film Festival (by jury and public) for Lejos del cielo (2002). [September 2002]

Received the Marc Aurelio Awards at the International Rome Film Festival (Italy). [November 2010]

Currently lives with her family in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Is a big fan of Downton Abbey (2010). She co-starred with the star of the series Michelle Dockery in Non-Stop (Sin escalas) (2014), and on the set of the film, she would ask Dockery for possible spoilers and secrets of the show.

A relatively late bloomer, Julianne didn't learn to drive until she was age 27, appeared in her first feature film at age 30, and waited until she turned age 37 to start a family.

As of 2015, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: El fugitivo (1993), Las horas (2002) and Los chicos están bien (2010).

The fourth actor overall and the second actress to have achieved the rare feat of winning an acting prize in the three major film festivals: 2002 Volpi Cup Best Actress for Lejos del cielo (2002), 2003 Silver Bear Best Actress for Las horas (2002) (shared with Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep), and 2014 Cannes Best Actress for Maps to the Stars (2014). The others actors to achieve this feat are Jack Lemmon, Sean Penn, and Juliette Binoche. Additionally, all four actors have won acting Oscars.

The longest she has gone without an Oscar nomination is the 12 years between her double nomination for Lejos del cielo (2002) and Las horas (2002) and Siempre Alice(2014).

Has starred in three films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards: El fugitivo(1993) (albeit briefly), Las horas (2002) and Los chicos están bien (2010).

Of the four acting winners at The Oscars (2015), she was the only one with a previous nomination.

Is one of 13 actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich (2000), Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain (2003), Reese Witherspoon for En la cuerda floja (2005), Helen Mirren for La reina (2006), Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006), Kate Winslet for El lector (2008), Mo'Nique for Precious (2009), Natalie Portman for Cisne negro (2010), Octavia Spencerfor Criadas y señoras (2011), Anne Hathaway for Los miserables (2012), Cate Blanchettfor Blue Jasmine (2013) and Patricia Arquette for Boyhood (Momentos de una vida)(2014).

At the 2014 Toronto Film Festival, Moore told a reporter: "If Marion Cotillard doesn't win the Golden Globe [for Dos días, una noche (2014)], there is no justice". Cotillard didn't get nominated for her performance, Moore was nominated and won for Siempre Alice(2014); at the backstage of the Golden Globes, she was asked about Cotillard and told that she was surprised that the actress wasn't nominated, because she had seen her film at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was flabbergasted by her performance. Moore also listed Cotillard as one of the artists that inspires her while answering her Oscar questionnaire. Both Moore and Cotillard got nominated for their respective performances at the 2015 Oscars.

Was the 144th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Siempre Alice (2014) at The Oscars (2015) on February 22, 2015.

Is one of 3 actresses who have won the Best Actress Oscar for playing a character called Alice. The others are Simone Signoret for Un lugar en la cumbre (1959) and Ellen Burstynfor Alicia ya no vive aquí (1974).

She and Eddie Redmayne played mother and son in Savage Grace (2007). In 2015, both won the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar, respectively.

Personal Quotes

You never have sex the way people do in the movies. You don't do it on the floor, you don't do it standing up, you don't always have all your clothes off, you don't happen to have on all the sexy lingerie. You know, if anybody ever ripped my clothes, I'd kill them.

In grade school I was a complete geek. You know, there's always the kid who's too short, the one who wears glasses, the kid who's not athletic. Well, I was all three.

[reerring to her broken toe while at the GLAAD Media Awards, in regards to executives at Paramount Pictures who were putting together a TV show for Laura Schlessinger, a right-wing radio talk-show host who has angered the gay community with her sometimes rabidly negative comments about homosexuality] I wish I could say I broke this kicking down the door at Paramount, but I was running after my son.

[what life was like for her as a child] I was a goody-goody. I was one of those kids who played by the rules. I used to have to take people to the principal's office. Isn't that awful?

[on losing the 2000 Best Actress Oscar] Only five people got nominated in that category, and that's not very many people. So I did all right.

I'm looking for the truth. The audience doesn't come to see you, they come to see themselves.

[October 2000, about her views on abortion and reproductive rights] Now that the FDA has legalized RU-486, it makes us feel that politically the winds are blowing our way. But, if someone has a problem with reproductive freedom, I won't even consider voting for them. George W. Bush is anti-choice, and I really believe that should he be elected, we will end up in a really difficult situation.

[about the birth of her son, Caleb Freundlich, and being a mother] It is the most wonderful experience of your life. It deepens absolutely everything. You have a greater understanding of things, so in a way it is a gift. For me it has made everything much better. I'm so happy; I am extremely fortunate.

I hesitate to call things companion pieces or to draw comparison between films because I think you reduce the films by doing that.

It's true, the classic, iconic American ideal, that heroine, our idea of perfection is this blonde woman in a blue dress and a blue car.

That's the beauty of what actors do, that you only have yourself as a resource. And so the trick is to find something in them that you connect to somewhere. And with every single one of my characters, I have to find something that I really understand and ultimately believe.

My parents were very liberal. That's a misconception about the military. I'm a proud army brat. I love the military. It breaks my heart what this war [the Iraq war] has done to it. These back-door, draftlike returns of soldiers to the front - you don't do that. You don't send a soldier back three or four times. That's not OK.

When someone says, "I'm not political", I feel like what they're saying is, "I only care about myself. In my bathtub. Me and my bathtub is what I care about".

There's always a female audience. But we will only go if they make movies for us because we're just too busy. It makes me crazy when people ask why women don't go to the movies. Number one, there are no movies for us and, number two, we have jobs and families. I never get out of the house with two little kids. If I go, I want to know it really is something for me. I want it to be relevant to me.

The great disappointment is that when you're acting, you've literally become a different person in your head, and when you see it you go, Oh! It's the same face! You feel sometimes so limited by your physiognomy. You are desperately trying to look different, but it doesn't always work. There are some things that you can change, but unfortunately you're always left with the same face.

I try to make my characters as specific as I can.

... If I have a hesitation on reading, I don't commit. I respond to the material or not. I like story. That's what I'm attracted to even more than character. It's no fun if it's a great character but not a good story.

What did [Gustave Flaubert] say? "Be ordinary in your life so that you can be violent and original in your work!" I believe that.

My family life is incredibly important to me. I want to be with them as much as I can. I try to work in New York, or I work in the summer time when my family can come with me.

The days of me doing a big film where I need to be away for months during the school year are over.

It doesn't seem to affect the roles I get. That's the reality of my life so I don't think about it too much."

[on feeling invisible] It started when I was a kid. I moved frequently because my dad was in the army so I was always new in school. I think if you've ever done that, you know what it means to not matter in a room. I think it's a good experience for everyone to have, to feel like they're not noticed, because it teaches you to be empathetic.

[on the death of her mother in 2009] She's gone. So that's hard. It's just one of those things. She was only 68. It was not fair. It has been really, really, tremendously difficult. It was completely sudden and unexpected and she was a month away from retirement. It was an infection and then an embolism. My mother got sick and she died the next morning. And I was on a plane on my way there when she passed away. It was really awful. We all miss her. It's been very bad. It's the thing about loss, and you see it in this movie [Un hombre soltero (2009)], too, that unfortunately this is what happens. None of us is spared.

My friends make jokes that I won't go see something if there's only men in it because I don't know who to look at. Like big war films. I don't have a way in here. Let me in. Give me a woman to look at so I can enter the story. So I think you want to represent other women and give them access to tell their stories.

[on living in Los Angeles in the early 1990s] For me, it was hard to be that close to the business, like being in a steel mill town. Some people like the lifestyle. But I'm someone who doesn't respond well to that kind of pressure.

Women in their late 30s or early 40s talk about how they're not middle-aged. And I just think, "How long are you expecting to live?" They're in the middle. If you're lucky you get to live to your 80s; if you're unlucky, like my mother, you don't.

My children don't watch my movies. First of all, they're not interested and, secondly, my movies are not for children. As an actor, you're trying to portray the human condition and sometimes we don't wear clothes. I made a movie called Chloe (2009) and there's a great deal of sexual material in it. The director, Atom Egoyan said, "You know, people do this. And when they do it, they're usually nude."

My very first director told me that if you have red hair, somebody is casting you for a reason. He said, "There will be parts that you don't get because, especially onstage, people can see you." I've been wigged plenty of times, but the funny thing is that even when I have a different hair color, people tend to still remember me as having red hair.

[on growing up with dreams of an acting career] I thought I was going to be a stage actress. One of the pathetic, secret parts of my personality is I love musical theater. I did that in high school but not very well. Even now, I love musicals: Hairspray, fiebre de los 60 (1988) is genius. But I think people think of me as a bore, you know. A tragic bore. Dark is not something I am, but from the beginning people assumed my métier was tragedy. When I started out, I was cast on a soap opera, As the World Turns (1956), as a quintessential good girl. I did that for a while and then they created the role of my evil, selfish half-sister/cousin. I played that, too. They immediately thought of me as dark.

[on growing up as an Army brat] . . . that life teaches you that behavior is not concrete. A lot of people think that how you behave is a given or that behavior is character. When you move around a lot, you learn that behavior is mutable. I would change, depending on where I was. I would go to one school and everyone would dance one way and, then, at a new school, you'd notice that no one picked up their feet when they danced. You're like, OK, I'll shuffle my feet like them. You learn that there's no one way to dance or be. For some reason, a lot of actors come from these peripatetic backgrounds - army kids, missionary kids, kids of salesmen. It teaches you to watch, to reinvent, that character can change.

I always find that aspect of a character important. But, you can't say, "Ooh - I like that Cristóbal Balenciaga dress and I'm going to wear it." You have to wear something that the character has access to. People tell stories about themselves with their clothing, their hair, with the way they move and the way they present themselves. I learned that when I was young. I was always on the lookout for clues. And there are a lot of clues in how people dress.

The script [for Boogie Nights (1997)] is primarily about love and loss and human connection, and although Tom reveals himself very slowly, what he reveals is very genuine.

[on meeting designer Tom Ford] I met him in 1998, right after my son was born. Tom made a dress for me for the Oscars, the first time I was nominated, for Boogie Nights(1997). In that movie, I played Amber Waves, a porno actress. Tom was unbelievably charming and handsome and normal, not scary, which surprised me because he was one of the first designers I'd ever met. He made me a really beautiful black chiffon dress that kind of had an empire waist. Because I'd just had a baby, my boobs were really big. I didn't feel confident enough to wear it. But Tom was incredibly gracious. He said, "I don't care - wear it, don't wear it, it's just a dress". And that was the beginning of my friendship with Tom.

[on playing Charlotte in Un hombre soltero (2009)] No, I wasn't thinking about Ann-Margret [in Conocimiento carnal (1971)]. A lot of the character began with a particular vocal choice: she's someone who is very wealthy, very educated and kind of a party girl. There's this way of speaking among these women where you don't know whether they're posh or hammered all the time. So, that's where I started. Then I listened to very early Julie Christie, to get the early-'60s kind of sound, and then I listened to some very modern British party girls. That's how I came up with Charly's sloppy sound.

[Interview with Miranda Crowell, September 2007]: My husband and I are very fortunate, because we have flexible jobs. If you talk to parents, that's what they're trying to do - have as much flexibility as possible.

[on giving fearless performances] I always say that to be fearless you actually have to be afraid. And acting is not something that scares me.It's something I enjoy.

If there's something that you haven't done that you've been waiting to do, the by all means, don't wait any longer. Do it!

Like all parents, we both have our strengths and our weaknesses. I'll tend to be, "Yeah, sure, you can have that gum". I'm easy with candy. I feel like, "Ugh, it's not going to kill you".

[on uncharacteristically playing a comic role in Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)] The older you get, the less alluring tragedy becomes. I think it's very easy, when you're 23, to see everything dark and tragic, but as you get older and see what people go through you realize people want to laugh.

I had a very wonderful teacher in Frankfurt, my English teacher, she was the drama coach and she said, "You could do this for a living." And it hadn't occurred to me, I didn't know anybody who did, I didn't know any actors, I'd never been to a real play, only school plays. So, she handled me a copy of Dramatics magazine and said, "These are schools that you can apply to", and I came home and told my parents I was going to be an actress.

[on portraying Sarah Palin in Game Change (2012)] It's daunting to play somebody who is not only a living figure, but a hugely well-known one, and it's my responsibility as an actor to be as accurate as possible. In all the research I did, this was a person who was clearly not prepared. We have her displaying moments of sheer brilliance. At her unveiling at the national convention, I think the whole country took a collective gasp, like, "Who is she? Where did she come from?" She was so incredibly charismatic, so unbelievably able to communicate, and a true patriot. Of course, on further examination, she didn't necessarily have the experience necessary to lead our country, either as Vice President or, potentially, President. That's what we tried to dramatize.

Lisa Cholodenko's movies are about relationships. There's never an event in her films. It's all about how people connect and communicate. And what they're trying to elicit from each other and how they love each other. It's the kind of film I respond to the most because it's about human behavior.

I always hate to be divisive about gender or sexuality or race or anything like that. I feel like sometimes, even with the best of intentions, when we put ourselves into boxes, it ends up being a less universal thing. But I will say that I've always worked with filmmakers who are interested in very human not so much plot driven stories, more kind of character and emotionally driven. A lot of gay filmmakers fall into that category.

[on playing Little Red-Haired Girl in sixth grade] I sat on the stage and ate a sandwich while Charlie Brown talked about me. I was so scared. I didn't get any pleasure out of that.

I panic more on stage. I really have a lot of stage fright. I get really shaky and it's not fun for me. But in movies, I don't. I had a therapist say to me once, "You know, a feeling can't kill you." And it can't. What I'm really afraid of is skiing, and going fast, and people knocking me down, and maybe breaking my teeth. Those are the things that frighten me. But being on a movie set with a lot of really terrific actors and having some great language and the director... Even if you do fail, what could happen?

I read an article that said that winning an Oscar could lead to living five years longer. If that's true, I'd really like to thank the academy because my husband is younger than me.

Before I met my husband, I always felt as if the party was happening somewhere else. Once I met him and we had our children, I was like 'This is where the party is.'"