MARISA TOMEI

I can't tell stories to save my life. I like to have fun, and I go out and have a lot of fun. But I'm not really an entertainer that way. I'm much more shy.

A man like Wilde was not free to live out of the closet as a homosexual, and women in general were not able to be truly themselves; there was no place for a woman's voice to be heard or for her to express her sexuality.

I feel like theatre gives me the grounding, and keeps me alive, basically. Film gives me the thrill, and it's like a one night stand. But I do enjoy being around people who love it so much.

Comedy is what I really want to do and propel.

I'm not that big a fan of marriage as an institution and I don't know why women need to have children to be seen as complete human beings.

I've just been lucky. I'd like to have more choices, and I'd like to have a leading part.

I really don't like when things are all polished and perfect - the perfect love story and the hair is perfect.

You have your structure, but within it, it gets fuller and you can highlight other parts of the performance.

I don't prefer much of film over stage... The only thing I prefer is the paycheck.

I am really not of the school of naturalism. I like style, and you can use more style in theater than in film roles. I love to sink my teeth into a part.

I think the fantasy of being a movie star is more powerful than the reality. So, for me, even if it's not a great film or a great play I'm doing, to know that you went for it. You had an experience that made you grow artistically and personally. What's really satisfying is knowing that you did a good job.

You can't really be old in L.A., it's kind of like a crime.

Politics itself is so unsexy, isn't it? But when the politics in creative works are really explored - not used as a vehicle - the results can be really interesting.

You express different energies at different times in your life.

Not to get overly psychological about this, but it's probably why I became an actress in the first place: for that kind of freedom and refuge, as well as for the fact that I just love acting so much.

Singing really oxygenates your blood. You stretch your lungs and take in much more air into them than before. It's really good for your health.

I never got into coffee.

I grew up on musicals, and I know they are quite the thing now, but I'm actually a little indignant, because I started taking singing lessons years ago - I put the time in!

I prefer to express myself physically, or non-verbally. I prefer just to react without having a lot of dialogue.

I'm a person who has to eat! I graze every few hours.

I was exposed to the arts, but there was no one in my family who was an artist.

With acting, it was really more of a general kind of experience of really just loving being in the theater.

I've just been really lucky to not be too much of a stereotype.

I find that protein wakes up my brain and gets me ready for the rest of my day.

All of us have read the stories about young people in Hollywood and all the challenges they have to confront there, and I think that artistically, I really didn't understand the commercial side of the film business, so I went back to a purely artistic setting.