MICHELLE PFEIFFER

Even though I don't feel I need approval, it's still important to me to give a good performance. I'm hard on myself.

I said, going into acting, 'I'm never moving to L.A.,' because it scared me. But there was no way you could build an acting career in Orange County.

When I was very young I never thought I was attractive, because I was a tomboy and I was always the biggest girl in the class.

It's harder to live the way I live. There are certain places I like to shop and eat where I simply don't go. The paparazzi follow you.

You know, the more you can meet people from different walks of life, the better it is for you. I think the more you can create situations and experiences that give you new perspective, the better.

Ultimately, I believe the only secret to a happy marriage is choosing the right person. Life is a series of choices, right?

I guess I sort of just feel like I am lucky.

I do find comedy difficult. I don't know why. Maybe I think about it too much. There's a tremendous amount of pressure to be funny.

I probably would like to do more than I do, because I love working, but I can't work more than I work because I have to do some facetime with the family, and the work that I do is just all-encompassing.

I like understanding what's underneath, what's really motivating people. When I was younger, I wanted to be a psychiatrist, so I think it has to do with that.

My grandmother raised five children during the Depression by herself. At 50, she threw her sewing machine into the back of a pickup truck and drove from North Dakota to California. She was a real survivor, so that's my stock. That's how I want my kids to be too.

I look like a duck. It's the way my mouth curls up, or my nose tilts up. I should have played Howard the Duck.

Acting's an odd profession for a young person; it's so extreme. You work, and the conditions are tough and the process is so immersive, and then it stops, and then there's nothing. So you have to find ways of making you feel productive when you're not actually producing anything. For a young person, that's really challenging.

I was kind of surprised to learn how controlling I am. I never thought of myself in that way. I think the root of the control issues is usually fear, because you want to know what's going to be happening at any given moment.

I act for free, but I demand a huge salary as compensation for all the annoyance of being a public personality. In that sense, I earn every dime I make.

Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can, hold our breath and hope we've set aside enough money for our kid's therapy.

My kids would probably say that I'm too strict. They probably would say that, and I try not to be, but I'm probably more on the conservative end of that. At the same time, I know full well that ultimately I don't really have control over them.

The value of a good education has never left me.

Just standing around looking beautiful is so boring.

I do think that, at one time, being an actress was the equivalent almost of being a prostitute. It garnered roughly the same respect. That's changed a lot, thank goodness.

I say really stupid things sometimes. When I go back and watch some of my old interviews from when I was younger, I just cringe.

I have days when I just feel I look like a dog.

And I'm a really happy person, I enjoy life. I think you see that on people. I think there's nothing more aging than misery.

I used to smoke two packs a day and I just hate being a nonsmoker... but I will never consider myself a nonsmoker because I always find smokers the most interesting people at the table.

I'm a Taurus. To the bone.