“A lioness has got a lot more power than the lion likes to think she has.”

“A lot of actors, whatever movie you're working on, you make up a back story just for your own, to work off, even if the audience doesn't have it revealed to them. I think it's important that the audience makes up their own mind.”

“A lot of directors want to storyboard you, whereas the best way to get a performance out of an actor is a collaborative process where you listen to the actor's input.”

“Everything the Coen brothers do is brilliant.”

“I believe in sex on a first date. Otherwise, how do you know if a second date is worth the effort?”

“I do a lot of American plays. I've done a lot of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Neil Simon. I was in 'Sisters Rosensweig,' 'Six Degrees of Separation,' all of that stuff. So we're very familiar with America. I did 400 performances of 'Born Yesterday.' I did 700 performances of 'They're Playing Our Song.'”

“I live for my work, apart from my family who come first. And I live to tell stories and pretend to be other people, it's something I've been doing since I was 3 years old. Maybe it's because I'm intrinsically bored with myself, and I find other people more interesting.”

“I live for my work, apart from my family who come first. And I live to tell stories and pretend to be other people, it's something I've been doing since I was 3 years old. Maybe it's because I'm intrinsically bored with myself, and I find other people more interesting. The more different they are, the bigger the challenge.”

“I love getting presents. And awards. I'd do whatever they told me to do.”

“I love pretending to be other people. The more unlike me they are the better - I find other people endlessly fascinating and myself incredibly boring.”

“I usually do get to play the very sweet, charming roles... but I'm not an obvious kind of villain.”

“I was sent the script for 'Silver Linings' when I was doing a play in D.C. at The Kennedy Center with Cate Blanchett and I was sent the script and asked if I was interested, and I said 'Oh, boy am I!'”

“I'd love to be a voice in 'Toy Story 4.'”

“I'm a nice middle-class girl in real life, and I'm a mom and a grandma, and I usually play sweet characters.”

“I'm always shy when I meet people I admire so I wouldn't be able to say anything rather than, 'How do you do? Love you! Bye!'”

“It wasn't on my agenda, but the thing about getting important awards is it makes the adventure of your career have a little more possibility. I think just what's happened so far is already making the opportunities more interesting, even though I'm at the twilight of my career of like 48 years.”

“It's funny in the U.K., where I'm not really known because I never did a soap. My English cousins in the Lake District think I'm not a real actor because they've never seen me in 'Home and Away' or 'Neighbours.'”

“It's one of the functions of the theater to shock and titillate and appall, apart from entertain and delight.”

“I've had five weddings but if I'm really honest and if I count significant de factos... I've had nine husbands... which sounds appalling but when you consider I started at 18 and I'm 65 it's not so bad.”

“I've had my share of villains and played some fairly nasty characters. But I've been acting for so long. I started out as the girl next door. Now I'm the grandmother next door.”

“No, I'm so well-known at home I think they think of me like a piece of comfortable furniture that's always been around that they're not going to throw out.”

“'Promiscuous' implies that I'm not choosy. In fact I'm very choosy. I just happen to have had a lot of choices.”

“The Oscar buzz when I was nominated was totally overwhelming. I think I can cope with anything now that I've coped with that. It was huge. It makes you realize, coming from a small country like Australia, what an enormous industry it is in America.”

“The thing about being an actor is that every new job is a new challenge. Sometimes you'll have a shot, and it doesn't work. Sometimes it'll work better than you expected.”

“They call David O. Russell the actor whisperer because he can get stuff out of actors that maybe some other directors can't.”

“Well, I've been acting for 50 years now, professionally. I've been acting a lot longer. My mother reckons I was acting when I got out of the womb. But because I've been working in the theater, I've probably only done about 25 movies but I've done more than 100 plays.”