My goal is always to do something that feels just beyond my reach, and 'Homeland' continues to do that. Every season, they find new ways to scare me. The show is like a diamond that fell from the sky. I'll always feel slightly bludgeoned by it, but in the best way possible.

Acting is a humiliating job, from start to finish.

Fame doesn't end loneliness.

People talk about 'date night,' and it is true: Sometimes you have to apply yourself, or at least apply lipstick to yourself. You kind of have to dress up, just because. You know, wear heels to your own dinner table.

Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

I'm so impressed by Jennifer Lawrence and Carey Mulligan. They have this exquisite taste. They are very gifted in their ability to make great choices.

When I was 18 I went to college for two years and didn't work for a year which was essential for me, because my identity had been so influenced by my being an actor and I think I just needed to discover what it was to be myself, divorced from all that responsibility.

I have a huge, active imagination, and I think I'm really scared of being alone; because if I'm left to my own devices, I'll just turn into a madwoman.

I just want to be a sane person. I wanna be a person who has a life and who acts.

Relationships are a constant negotiation and balance.

Growing up, I wanted desperately to please, to be a good girl.

The Brexit and Trump phenomena are informed by similar forces and social and economic movements. I think it's been really stressful; it's been really scary.

Every time I make a movie, I'm prepared for it to become influential and career-defining - but I have no control over these things.

I love Berlin.

People confuse fame with validation or love. But fame is not the reward. The reward is getting fulfillment out of doing the thing you love.

I was an actor who happened to be a kid.

I finally realized that yeah I did want to be an actor and it wasn't out of habit, but I needed to grow up for myself and then kind of re-enter the industry with a sound understanding of what my sensibilities and my values are as a relatively formed human being.

Yeah, there was the Flora Plum thing, where I trained for about a month and I had taken a semester off for that, and two weeks prior to filming, the financing collapsed.

My character was kidnapped by the Terminator and I was kidnapped by the Terminator production.

Maybe philosophy - I love talking about ideas. Or maybe art history. I was thinking about psychology, then I got really afraid because everybody says it's terribly boring.

I'm only realizing now that I was a child actress because I always took myself so seriously.

I would sign on for projects that were meant to shoot in July, and then they would postponed and they would bleed into the following semester, and then I'd take a semester off, and then the movie would collapse.

I took three years off. I differentiated myself from the industry. Found my identity - sort of... I haven't graduated yet. I'm not legitimately educated yet, but maybe one day.

I think because I am as earnest as I am, people were accepting of my evolving into a certified, legitimate, and grown up and I did take three years off.

I really liked Yale, although it was extremely intimidating. When I visited the campus, I was hiding behind trees, I felt so unworthy.

I know, it's true. I've played these tortured teenagers. I can't wait to shed that image.

I have this home in New York, I have a long-term relationship with my boyfriend, who's from Australia, and I had this business that I had maintain. Even though I wasn't actively shooting, there's a lot of peripheral work.

I hadn't been free from adult responsibilities since I was 12, and I needed to experience that. I really needed to just be a kid again.

I get a little jealous of these actor boys. They walk into a club, and in two seconds flat there are swarms of girls who are wanting so badly to touch them or just say hello. That's not the case with me, or any other girl I know.

I became very successful at a young age... I had lots of opportunities and lots of power and had no idea how to focus it.

I think it's important to never play 'crazy' - you have to know what kind of crazy you're playing.

The first time I realised I was patriotic was after September 11th.

Growing up in New York with artist parents - a very liberal environment, where we were always encouraged to challenge the status quo - I think for a long time I confused jingoism with patriotism. And that is a mistake.

Psychology and acting are very closely linked. It's just about studying people and how they work. It can be an incredible discipline and exercise.

On a film you can really get away with learning the scene the night before and that's often just not possible with TV, so you have to be a little bit more prepared a little bit more in advance.

Steve Martin is one of my favorite performers, writers, artists of all time.

When you really get it right in acting, it's an act of empathy. You feel less distant from others, and that is really exciting.

I used to have nightmares when I was a little kid that I woke up prematurely and opened all the Christmas presents. And then I would be so relieved when I woke up and I realized that I hadn't done it.

Any story is better with a little love in it, right?

I think 'Breaking Bad' is incredible.

Voice over can be tricky. It can be dangerous because it's over-used or inappropriately used.

It just seems like the most successful, iconic love stories are not so easy or escapist. I think the ones that stay with us and resonate are full of conflict, discord and misunderstandings 'cause that's what makes drama happen or tension even if it's a comedy.

I think people who make movies and have invested a lot of money in them get frightened that if they challenge an audience they are going to repel them. And I think the opposite; it's really true.

I should be so lucky to be a misfit. I aspire to be a misfit.

I can get a dance party started pretty much anywhere and anytime.

Every three seconds in the developing world, a child dies needlessly due to lack of basic health care and other things we all take for granted.

You have to pick your battles on set.

You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes.

I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom. It just wouldn't suit me.

I am not a genius. But I am nerdy.