Jennifer Jason Leigh Quotes

I feel like I turned down a lot of things that I wish I hadn't. But you never know when you're younger. I don't have regrets about certain things I turned down. Those films would have required things of me that would have been challenging, and they ended up being really good movies. But I was never a careerist, I never thought in those terms. I'd be like, "Oh, I'm tired. I don't want to work."

I loved acting as a kid because I was kind of shy, so it brought me out of myself.

One of the reasons that I do a lot of different kinds of pictures is because I learn a lot when I'm doing them.

It's very exciting to work with people who inspire you.

I've always had so much admiration for my mom. She's so inspiring as a woman and as an artist.

For me, something dangerous would be playing thebabe in a huge studio film. That would be terrifying because I'dstink ... I want to explore human beings on as deep a level as I can.

I just don't plan things. I live a month at a time.

I like to investigate all different kinds of people, I guess, and find out what makes them who they are, and try to be honest in the portrayal, and truthful, and find out how to understand that person, how to communicate that person's experience.

You know, you really do choose your existence in a way.

I hate parties. I don't like big crowded things.

I'm so different to the roles I play, and perhaps that's why they are appealing to me as an actor. But I would never want to inhabit my characters' shoes in real life.

I sort of spend every moment that I'm not working doing things with my son. You do the best you can, and you make the most of the time you have.

I love being in therapy. It's just constantly fulfilling for me.

I don't want to play the same person twice, that's not why I wanted to act.

I'm a fraidy cat. I play everything very safe in my life, so I think that's why I like characters that don't.

Quentin's [Tarantino] thing is "I don't want anybody to get up until they have to. So, because he really wants things to come organically. And he may have specific things like "No, this ... I want you to be here so that when he punches you, it falls. I want that action to happen here." But you feel like it does, all the blocking does come from an organic response to the material.

Being a good girl means suppressing a lot.

On film, I'm very mysterious, but in life I'm very dull.

There's a lot of magic involved in movies that as a child I really appreciated. So I love bringing my son to set. It reminds me of what I loved doing as a child, and also, as an actor, you have a lot of down time.

I worked with great, brilliant directors. I've been so lucky. It's terrible to compare anyone, because you can't. But I can just tell you that this experience was just a truly magnificent experience for everyone involved.

Writing, producing and directing, I must say, is incredibly satisfying and gratifying.

Acting for kids is like playing house, you know? But growing up in Hollywood, it just made it seem possible.

I think that's an incredible thing that we can do as actors - to feel empathy toward someone that you may otherwise detest, you know?

I'm not great at judging a career. Or planning one.

People can have so many ill-conceived ideas about me based on the parts that I play. I've had guys, when I've been single, come out of the woodwork to date me and I've found out very quickly that they were expecting some kind of whirlwind, some dramatic crazy person - and that's just not me.

I just don't want to talk about my personal life. I feel like it's mine, I'm not trying to promote it. It's nice to have things that are your own, that you value enough that you don't have to use to sell a movie.

I really go against drama in my life. Life is too short.

I don't really watch my moves all that often; I mean, really, I don't.

I love Polaroids and I have a Polaroid camera collection from the '50s.

I'm a typical middle child. I'm the mediator. The one that makes everything OK, puts their own needs aside to make sure everybody's happy. It's hard to change your nature, even with years and years of therapy.

I think I am talented - but I also think I'm very lucky.

I feel like I had a great career in a way. Maybe not the most successful monetarily or in other ways, but creatively, I feel incredibly fortunate.

When I find a role I want to play, I just go after it.

I've always done roles that really appealed to me on a gut level and which I found inspiring.