My mom used to call me a parrot, because the way I spoke would change in every country we'd go to.

When I lived in London, I worked at the U.N. for a while as its human rights and refugees officer. I have two degrees, and my second was in radio. I was a programmer and news reporter in Canada. My CV looks bananas.

My mom, well, she's half Greek, half German-Italian; born in England. She's just a nomad. She loves Middle Eastern style, Indian style, so much so that she ended up having Indian babies.

Fusion fashion - that's what I'm inspired by, taking all these different cultures and then trying to put it together that a girl here would love to wear.

I archive a lot of my clothes and have them wrapped up and in boxes. I call them 'little tombs' and keep them in a storage space... I would never get rid of the dress I wore on the night I won my Oscar. When I die, someone can have it, but not a minute before!

Throughout my career I have been talked out of things I wanted to do, and when I look back, I think I should have followed my instincts.

A person's self-esteem has nothing to do with how she looks.

People win Oscars, and then it seems like they fall off the planet. And that's partly because a huge expectation walks in the room and sits right down on top of your head. The moment I won the Oscar, I felt the teardown the very next day.

I do not love to work out, but if I stick to exercising every day and put the right things in my mouth, then my diabetes just stays in check.

I'm not one of these actresses like, 'Okay, where's the camera? Is it here? Is it here?' I don't even ask the questions because I don't really want to know. I like not performing for a camera but giving it my best every single time whether you're close or whether you're far.

I'm not the girl for super high fashion because I don't have the right body. When I want to get dressed up, I'm a Roberto Cavalli girl.

Career is important, but nothing really supersedes my roles as a mother.

Every story about me is so heavy and dramatic. That's not how I do life. But that's the impression people have, and that's what keeps getting reiterated. As if I'm still stuck in all the muck of the past. And I am so not.

People win 'Oscars', and then it seems like they fall off the planet. And that's partly because a huge expectation walks in the room and sits right down on top of your head.

I'm not done with love, but I refuse to settle.

I think we have become obsessed with beauty and personally I'm really saddened by the way women mutilate their faces today in search of that.

I always had to diet. I'm diabetic, so it's a lifestyle for me anyway just to stay healthy and not end up in the hospital.

Having a baby takes so much from you. It's the most glorious thing you'll ever do, but the aftermath is not so glorious!

My mother helped me identify myself the way the world would identify me. Bloodlines didn't matter as much as how I would be perceived.

By the time I left school, I had a lot of tenacity.

I always had to prove myself through my actions. Be a cheerleader. Be class president. Be the editor of the newspaper.

I'm a much better mother at 46... than if I were like, 21 or 25.

I think I've evolved into someone pretty confident - in myself and in my skin.

I was black growing up in an all-white neighborhood, so I felt like I just didn't fit in. Like I wasn't as good as everybody else, or as smart, or whatever.