I act, but I am a mother first and wife second.
In our personal lives, we have a lot of businesses going on. I have a profession, I'm a father, a spouse, a good member of my community. How much of my time and energy can I allocate to each of those things? What I allocate becomes the strategy I have for my family, and everything else.
I just don't want to miss anything in the lives of my children while they are still young. It's why I don't audition for leading roles at all and why I say no to some of the supporting roles that I do get offered.
I think I'm an okay parent, but I'd put myself in the category of a musician-who-happened-to-become-a-father. I'm definitely not a father-who-happened-to-be-a-musician.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, when it comes down to it, if I have the choice between a great role and seeing a new guy, I would probably go for the great role because I figure if the guy's really that great that he'll be around once I'm done with the movie.
The truth is, I'm a character guy. That's how I see myself. I always see the role as being far more interesting and important than I am... not all actors approach it that way.
I always do whatever is best for the character.
We live increasingly in a system in which little direct attention is paid to the object, the function, the program, the task, the need; but immense attention to the role, the procedure, prestige, and profit.
The moment you say, 'I want to do a role,' the story suffers. I don't set priorities in terms of roles or scripts.
Yes, I wear a number of hats. But my most important title is mom and wife.
I was fortunate enough to have my kids early, so being a mom always ended up being a better gig than these other parts that came along. So I always justified not really working a lot because I had a family.
Responsibilities are relative. My responsibility is to a character in a script, to a part I'm playing.
I have done films only because my roles were good in them. It has got nothing to do with being associated with any particular camp.
If it were said that I didn't fulfil my potential as a mother and wife, I'd be heartbroken. But if it were said that I hadn't fulfilled my potential as an actress, I would understand the reasons why.
