"I'm open to whoever. I think it is absurd to assume that I have to look in a certain category. A person should make choices—about who they want to marry, who they want to spend time with, who they want to fuck—based on a variety of options, and I hope that one day people will be more open-minded about that. It's silly to look in one category or another. I would never imagine a mate based on a certain sex or race."

"It is tempting to take all these jobs and these movies that people offer you all the time for, lots of money, to play the girl next door or the screen queen, and it is tempting to run out in front of the paparazzi if you feel like you aren't getting enough attention. But if you value a real career as an artist you value longevity, you can't sacrafice that for some publicity or a big paycheck. If I wanted to be a celebrity, it would be very easy, but I value different things."

"I'm proud of the movies I've worked on and if I weren't in them, I'd probably love them, but the second I see myself on-screen I kind of get a sick feeling in my stomach. You are your own worst critic, and I guess I just can't watch myself objecttively. Whenever I'm at my premieres, I want to run out of the theatre once I come on-screen."

"I love to cook. When I'm away I miss my pots and pans and my spices. I take a lot of pride in the spices that I pick out … crazy, random, specific spices from all over the world that I buy in Little Tokyo and markets in LA."

"There's a line between being an artist and [being a celebrity]. Whether you're a famous photographer or artist, or you're an actor or director, it's no longer about your job it's about being a celebrity … and somehow that's your job … and I hate that idea."

"I want to produce my own films – it's important for women to make the creative decisions. So I produced my next film, And Soon the Darkness; I did a lot of writing and the budgets – the whole gig. I thoroughly enjoyed it and want to do more."

"I don't believe in God any more than I believe in the Easter bunny. I grew up in a very strict Catholic environment. I didn't have an epiphany; it was a gradual process that took a lot of fighting and questioning and reading and research. My parents were upset; they didn't like that I asked questions – but that only propelled me to ask more. I explained that I don't need an external, omnipotent being with an eternal concept of punishment out there to tell me right from wrong."

"I'm not the kind of person to just sit back and lose something I worked hard on, so, naturally, I've taken steps to be further involved in a process when most actors aren't. They go home at the end of the day, and I instead am going over dailies."

"I'm looking to find good stories, not big commercial pieces of work."

"I could be pigeonholed so fast–it can happen so quickly, and I'm trying to keep a constant strategy to always be moving and be a little unpredictable in that sense."

"I love fast cars, loud guns and classic rock 'n' roll, but I'd never do any of it in flats. I love me a nice, big uncomfortable pair of heels and some big hair! Maybe it's a Southern thing, but I love dressing up. It's everything I can do not to leave the house in a goddamn prom dress every day."

"My private life is very important to me, and as it becomes increasingly obvious how little respect a lot of celebrities have for their own personal lives, my private life grows even more valuable to me."

"Carpe omnes. It's not just seize the day – which is grossly overused. It's seize everything. I like that. I'll take it all."

"I look at people like Angelina Jolie and all that she is doing, and I think 'Wow, that is the direction I want to go in.' I'm hoping that the small amount of power that I am able to accrue will be enough to change atleast one life, and preferably thousands."

"As many roles as I get to do, like the pretty girl, the prom queen; I like to choose other ones regardless of how much they pay."

"I'm young and I'm single, and I definitely enjoy my private life. I'm not insecure, and I don't need to be validated by paparazzi. I want my career to speak for me."

"If people ask me how I avoid all the BS, I often tell them, I'm not looking for it. I'm hardly ever in LA., I'm always working."

"I was raised in Austin, Texas and my parents put me through Catholic school my whole life and look at me now, mom and dad! Then I went to a private Catholic academy, a prep school. It was co-ed. I guess, when I was sixteen, I said 'I'm gonna go be an actress in Hollywood' and I came out here when I was 17-years-old and the rest is history, the rest you can look up."

"I think it's the (Catholic) education. I don't think there are many people who will argue with you about the quality of the education but, other than that, I think it's a very dangerous thing. School in America in general is conforming enough. We have a very, very strong tendency to fall into that conformity, very easily because it's the easiest path. I think it's dangerous to put a young girl in a Catholic school where they teach you to conform and dress the same and it effects your personal life after you leave that school. They're telling you how to live your life, morality; what to believe, what not to believe and that is scary. It's literally telling you 'don't think for yourself.'"

"I'm very lucky. I've always been a big fan of reading and books. I think the minute you pick up a book about world history or religious history; the minute you start to learn about other societies, other cultures, other religions and the history of the ones that have brought our world to what it is today, I think it's very easy to escape. But, not for most people because it's easy to just turn on the TV and watch American Idol."

"The industry is not an easy one but I'm in it for a reason and I'm not surprised by anything. You're a fool if you're surprised by this industry and I am a single woman in Hollywood and it is difficult. I'm not saying it's a walk in the park but this is something I've wanted my whole life and I'll be damned if I'm going to complain about it now."

"My father always encouraged me to be an actress. I guess, as a parent, you can look at your child and see what they are kind of prone to and I was that kid; I had a video camera when I was a child and filmed everything and organized plays and I was always on camera too. I would never just be behind the camera, hello! I would put myself in as the star. I did do the plays in high school before I dropped out and finished high school on my own. I fell in love with theater in high school and it was something that my parents really encouraged, probably up until the moment I said 'I'm gonna go do it tomorrow'. They've been great."

"My very best friend died in a car accident when I was 16 years old. That was the hardest blow emotionally that I have ever had to endure. Suddenly, you realize tomorrow might not come. Now I live by the motto, 'Today is what I have.'"

"It's hard being a woman in Hollywood because there's a lot of pressure to be things that are not natural. There's a lot of pressure to fill standards that are beyond you or just plain difficult. It's hard... Very hard, but that's the expectation placed upon you to be the hot young thing."

"I still had the body image of the girl being told to lose weight. It was very difficult to be placed in this position but, luckily, weight has never been a concern of mine. It's just a concern to other people."

"I would just love to work in films for the rest of my life. I don't care about famous or about being anything like that. All I care about is living my life, being able to do what I love, working project to project, city to city, in films I believe in. That's the only way to live."

"My whole life, there have been people expecting me to be a certain way because of how I look. They expect certain things of me, expect me to be of a certain intelligence. I'm constantly walking a tightrope between the kind of roles I want to play and the kind of roles I'm expected to play."

"You see all these girls who are trained to be pretty and nothing else. That's why I've looked for roles that are not the pretty, popular girls."