We were these arty punks from Hollywood. I considered myself an intellectual.

All I knew about Ethiopia was from a few records that I like, as well as what I read about the famine. But you get there and it's another world. It's filled with art and music and poetry and intellectuals and writers - all kinds of people.

The most important thing to me with any politician is that they don't start wars, but education is a big part of that, too, because educated people are less likely to do stupid, violent things.

For me it's the high-water mark of American culture - not so much contemporary jazz, which has become kind of academic, but the jazz from the '20s on through the '70s.

I grew up being terrified of my parents, particularly my father figures.

Bands develop their own weird ways of doing things.

When I was in school, you could pick any instrument you want, and they'd teach you how to play it. That changed my life. I loved playing music in school, and it sent me on my path as a musician.

I feel like if we're not running, we're basically disrespecting our bodies. When you're running, you're really using your body for what it's meant to do.

My father was out of my life when I was pretty young - when I was 7 years old, he was gone. I didn't see him for the rest of my childhood.

I always thought I was a pretty terrible actor.

I'm a performer and have managed to get my performing into the mainstream consciousness of the world, I guess.

I worked full time jobs, basically doing manual labor until I could make enough money supporting myself as a musician.

The last thing that should happen is funding cut for education; it should be increased. We need to put more money towards education, and anything else is abusive.

We were at the dark end of the L.A. punk scene, and that scene was full-on and violent and aggressive and wild and intense.

I got my love of jazz from my stepfather, who was a jazz musician.

I was raised to think that rock was music for ignorant people who didn't think for themselves.

When something comes up, and it's interesting, and I have the time, I'll do it.

With acting, I always feel conscious of what I'm doing.

The apparatus has to serve our improbability and improvisation. Being good and playing the songs is not enough.

I exercise; I have a big career. I'm a parent, and I run a music school.

I just lucked into this weird, little obscure cameoesque film career. I just love being a part of film history.

All my career, all that I've really done has been based on emotion and intuition and gravitating toward what sounds good.

I did record a bunch of stuff, but the thing that usually stops me from doing that is that I'm a terrible singer. I made a bunch of instrumental music, and it feels really good, but just as a singer, I'm not good.

Lucky enough, through the public school system, I had been able to have some music education, and that gave me something to focus on, and discipline - like a family to feel part of. There was a healthy family.

Being a rock star isn't all it's cracked up to be, let me tell you.

When I first heard about Twittering, I thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever heard of in my life. It's like the devil: the idea that your personal life is there for everybody.

I wanted to go to drama school, but when I got the part in 'Falling,' I got an agent, so it seemed a good idea to work. I always did a lot of singing and dancing, so I am glad it worked out that way. I would like to study stage acting at some point, though.

The Kate Winslet thing has been a shocker. I was like, that is the most ridiculous claim. Amazing, obviously. She's been my idol since I re-enacted 'Titanic' and fell in love with Leo. And it's a privilege to be called the next anything. But I suppose to be the next you is all you can do.

If I can make my mark just a little bit, then great.

If you look at it, the corset is a very beautiful item, but when I put one on, I realized how little you could actually move. And I'm a very physical person: I talk with my hands. And I felt how the clothes took that away from me. And that was the idea, I think. It was a way of limiting women.

I'm a bit of a gypsy. I live everywhere; I live out of a bag.

What's important is to listen before you react.

What we don't realise when we watch a normal film is how many times someone has run in just before a shot quickly to wipe away that sweaty moustache. You never see a normal spot, a bag under the eye or an unplucked eyebrow, because that's not how Hollywood works.

'The Silence of the Lambs' is my favourite book, favourite film.

Wearing a corset is extremely uncomfortable.

My dad still collects newspaper clippings about me.

We're learning things every decade we grow through, and ultimately, you do end up with a different way of looking at things.

Why shouldn't there be more epic, brilliant female characters onscreen?

We tend to kind of write women out of history.

I think there's always some good reason to try and modernize most period things, because at the end of the day, they may have, I suppose, used a different language or a different etiquette, but ultimately, these are still people that loved and breathed and lived and ate and weed and pooed just like we do now.

I found out I got 'The Little Drummer Girl' and my BAFTA nomination in quick succession, and I just didn't expect it to be like that. I thought there would be a lot more time in between. It's been an overwhelming experience.

My characters do have some fantastic taste in men.

I hope to create characters that people want to watch - and they either want to be or are, or it's something that they recognize.

In 'Fighting With My Family,' there's a scene where I have to wrestle; I have to do the famous fight between Paige and AJ Lee. We actually did perform it in front of all those thousands of people. And just beforehand, we had a little dress rehearsal, and there were all these famous wrestlers going around and watching as well. Terrifying.

I've tried not to get too bogged down by what people want you to be.

Playing Paige, I felt I had to train to wrestle.

For me, it's always been so obvious that the less we can edit our lives and more we show how normal we all are, the better.

Everybody's story of getting into the industry is just as difficult as the next person. Whether you come from money or no money, it's not easy... you have to offer yourself; you can't expect someone to get you.

I know that my way of tackling a character is very different.

In order for us to appreciate this world, we have to be a bit more honest, and I hope I do that.