Part of the reason I sort of shot out like a cannon out of Michigan and left home at such an early age is because I had to feel independent.

And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight - I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball because I was a scrub - there were things that I liked about it.

You live in a deranged age more deranged that usual because in spite of great scientific and technological advances man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.

I'm never overawed by a situation and I think that's because I've always looked several years older than I am. So because people were treating me like I was 40 when I was 29 I've always felt in control of a situation. People used to say when you're 32 you'll look 32. I'm still waiting for that moment where my age catches up with my appearance.

But I think it's a little different in Europe because 40 is really the best age for a woman. That's when we hit our peak and become this ripe fruit.

I was well motivated. What I wanted to do was work for myself. I had twenty two jobs before I started my business at the age of twenty three and I didn't want one more boss telling me what to do. So I was motivated simply because I didn't want a boss.

I basically started playing violin at the age of six. That lasted about three years because my previous teacher died and the second teacher didn't really know how to successfully get me going.

I want to sell to people my own age because that's the way I write songs.

Because of my age and because there's more work on the small screen. What it's missing in quality it makes up for in quantity. From an actor's selfish point of view.

It seems to me there is a change in what audiences want to see. I can only hope that's correct because there's an awful lot of people of my age around now and we outnumber the others.

The age thing really bugs me. Do people have more of a right to not like what I say because I'm 19?

I've lost touch with a lot of that boutique-type music just because of my age and raising my son and the multiple jobs I have at this point.

I hate the idea that you shouldn't wear something just because you're a certain age.

You hit a certain age and - especially because of TV - the young cooks coming up say 'You're a sellout because you're doing something other than what you should be doing.' 'Top Chef' is a double-edged sword for me: There's a whole group of people who will not come to the restaurants because they assume I'm not in them anymore all I do is TV.

I love physical kinds of comedy and getting down and dirty and doing stunts. When I was growing up I was always getting into fights with guys and usually punching out boys my age because I was a lot bigger and tougher. So I'm naturally accustomed to putting myself into the headspace of a girl who can take care of herself.

This is what I asked for and in this day and age that's what actually goes on. But what hurts me the most is that I work just as hard as any other actress around my age like Scarlett Johansson but I just don't get the opportunities that they get because people are so distracted by the mess that I created in my life.

I am happy being able to play roles with people my age because once you do something really mature there is no turning back.

What I really tried to do with Helen was make her show this sad side of her. She was married off at 16 was so young and living in this castle that can't leave because of how she looks and married to a man she hates and three times her age.

My view is pensioners don't have the one option that people of working age have. They can't really increase their income because they are no longer able to work.

It's the golden age of French cinema again but it's because Sarkozy had the guts to push through copyright law.

Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn't like what a woman her age is offered. That's a real double standard. You get Sean Connery who gets older and older still playing opposite young ladies but it doesn't work the other way around.

It's not the normal way to look at things but I experienced death at a really young age and because of that it's been part of my mental landscape that death is really very possible.

I don't believe in happy endings but I do believe in happy travels because ultimately you die at a very young age or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It's a mean thing life.

I think I'm a bit less inhibited and not thinking too much before speaking. It's not about being shameful I'm just a bit more unabashedly myself because of this thing and it probably started at age 15. I can be around people and say what I think without fear.