Well, you can't be trying to achieve success of any kind in this business without accepting that there's going to be a flip side to it.

You're supposed to look a certain way when you're a celebrity, but I want to take care of my baby, and those two things don't mesh very well.

I mean, I didn't ever watch 'Gilligan's Island' and think, 'Those people are actors.' I lived in West Virginia. Hollywood just felt like this total other universe.

I've loved football since I was in the marching band of junior high and high school and was the water girl for my high school's team.

I always, always meant to be on stage. I only ended up even auditioning for television and movies because I was understudying a Turgenev play on Broadway and was so broke that, when I got a mini-series, I had to take it and was so ashamed because I was such a snob.

No matter what, it is very tricky and difficult just to be a good parent at all. I have a lot of help. And for that I'm very grateful.

You can do a lot with Scotch tape. Almost anything! I love that you can hem a dress, and its an instant remedy in a fashion crises.

I really thought when I was pregnant with my first that it wouldn't affect my work at all; it would just be a baby that grows up on set. And I was absolutely wrong. For women, the high point of their career and needing to have babies just don't really go together.

I hoped, hoped, that maybe I'd be lucky enough to do something on Broadway, in the chorus.

I do think about aging. I have those moments of panic and vanity, but life keeps getting better, so you can't worry about it too much.

I think that baseball games are like soap operas. If you watch five in a row, you know enough to get hooked.

I am lucky to have had an attentive, curious and loving dad and heart-smart, down-to-earth, gifted mother. They changed the outlooks of their own lives and have never forgotten the people and organizations that helped them dream bigger than their circumstances should have allowed.

The wholesome is definitely intentional and drilled into me. I mean, we weren't allowed to pierce our ears growing up. We didn't wear makeup. We couldn't have layers in our hair, perms, or color, or manicures. My dad didn't think it was ladylike. My dad just felt like his daughters should be wholesome.

I wash my face at night for sure. If I've had makeup, on I wash it twice. And now that I'm old, I use the Rapid Repair moisturizer, which has all the stuff in it - retinol, alpha, whatever, all of it. And I do use a Neutrogena eye cream, which I didn't used to.

I want flowers; I don't want to text. What does that make me? What kind of dinosaur am I?

My parents started with very little and were the only ones in their families to graduate from college. As parents, they focused on education, but did not stop at academics - they made sure that we knew music, saw art and theatre and traveled - even though it meant budgeting like crazy.

My big sister Melissa, is such a stud and my little sister Suzanna, has always had a perfect body and big blue eyes. We were a force.

I would roll up pennies to take the subway to work in Times Square. I was broke, but I was happy.

I knew we were going to marry someday, but I was absolutely surprised when he actually proposed. And surprised he had bought a ring. I ran around the yard screaming.

I love being physical and acting at the same time.

And you can't hide in a comedy scene either. You have to give in to the scene and commit.

I was a ballet dancer and that kind of bled into musical theater. I was constantly in rehearsal for one thing or another.

I'm still really close with everyone at home and their parents - and their brothers and sisters. I was so, so, so lucky to grow up as part of a community and I don't take that for granted. I try very hard to stay part of it.

And now, I still really don't care that much but now I have music playing all the time at home, which is a first for me. Whatever. Everything from Ani DiFranco to Dave Matthews to Jack Johnson and Norah Jones.

To become a classical ballerina, you have to move to New York when you're 12 or 11 and that becomes your life. I just wanted to be good in my company in Charleston and I wanted it to always be part of my life.

The rule with marriage is the less you talk about it the better, as far as I can tell.

It's about getting the kids up and fed, getting one to school, getting the other down for a nap, going to the grocery store, picking one up from school, getting the other one down for another nap, cooking dinner... I live my life at these two extremes. I'm either a full-time stay-at-home mom or a full-time actress.

I remember, my mom didn't have any help, so if she needed to be somewhere after school, we'd just go down to the neighbors' and she'd give us a snack and make sure we did our homework. There weren't any latchkey kids.

I love the feeling of being on a team, rehearsing together, sharing a dressing room - I love that so much.

I know I live a charmed, beautiful life and nobody wants to hear a celebrity whine. The last thing I want to do is complain; I love what I do and I know every job comes with a downside.

I rebelled by not getting straight A's and not following the path that my elder sister did. She was valedictorian and is very exemplary in her way. I look a lot like her, so I just had to do the opposite. Not that I got bad grades, but I was all about performance and just finding any way that I could to be involved in any kind of production.

I feel lucky, though, because even when 'Alias' was popular, I was still sent scripts against type. I've never felt like the world only sees me one way. But yes, it's been really fun to be bad.

Growing up where I did, the thought of working on a television show or in a movie... that existed on a parallel plane, you know?

My sisters both are working mothers. I understand that my being an actress as well as being at home isn't some heroic thing. That doesn't mean it isn't confusing or difficult - especially that question of how you find a balance.

I'm still conflict-averse. I don't like to argue.

I will tell you what I can't abide - and I think the Internet has really created a space for it - women criticizing other women and mothers criticizing other mothers.

I never had a problem resisting somebody that I knew was going to break my heart.

Going after 'the bad guy' has not been a real issue for me.

I certainly never expected to be in front of a camera one day of my life.

In my teens, I was never part of the cool crowd.

The outside world can be very tough.

My world was a community ballet school, a marching band, my two sisters and my girlfriends. I played saxophone in the band and was a bit nerdy.

We all have a responsibility to volunteer somewhere and I'm lucky that I get the education and get taken to places to see what's out there and see what's happening and to then be a part of it in hopefully an impactful way.

My mom was really vigorous about making sure that we saw things and that we questioned things. Education was so important to both of my parents.

I try to eat in a way that makes me feel good. If that means a little bite of chocolate I do that, but I try not to use food as a reward for myself.

I just try work out at least twice a week if I can.

I am usually part of any disaster at a wedding if I'm a bridesmaid, which I've been lucky enough to be several times.

I thought the divorce statistics would never apply to me. I was beyond heartbroken when they did. But I got up and got on with it. I also kept my belief in marriage.

I don't know anyone who was never a geek, really, when they look at their own lives. I think that from the outside looking in, you think that you weren't necessarily a tragic geek, but yes, you did lean in that direction.

But I'll never be one of those women who feel that they always have to wear earrings and aren't properly dressed without them.