Alia Shawkat

“Personality-wise, I'm a person who likes to put it all out on the table.”

“Over time, I've been more recognized.”

“I've definitely gone through phases where I'm not happy with my life, and you notice in little ways until they start adding up.”

“There are definitely a lot of roles I didn't get based off of the way I look, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I'm going to write stories for myself or work with filmmakers who want to tell stories about real people.”

“I definitely had a weird thing of being attracted to older men. Never my family friends, never my dad's friends.”

“When I get a new script my mom will read them and just be aghast. I think it's hysterical.”

“I grew up in Palm Springs, California, which is a suburb like a desert town, and I love it.”

“If you want to do something, then you do it. If you don't want to do something, don't just do it because your friends are doing it, or because all the popular kids are doing it.”

“After 'Arrested Development,' I didn't know for sure if I wanted to be an actor. I was hitting this wall, where I was the 'ethnic best friend' or the 'sassy teenager.' It felt like the same note, and I didn't feel like I was growing.”

“I usually play grounded, has-their-head-on-straight kind of sassy girls.”

“I was born and grew up in Palm Springs. It's a great place to grow up, a real small town.”

“I'm more verbal and not as private as I was as a kid. I still do a form of sense memory. It honestly depends on the job. It depends on the other people you're working with, how the other actor works.”

“Right when I turned 18, I moved to New York, originally for school, and then dropped out and just lived in New York.”

“I've been reading scripts where they've been doing a lot of singing now, but within the dark, realistic story line. I would love, love, love, love to do that. But not a musical on Broadway, I don't have that kind of energy or stamina.”

“When I wrap a job, I disconnect with it, and I'm done, even if they said we'd shoot more next year, at this time, which is not the case at all because nobody knows what's happening.”

“American shows can go on for 20 years. I respond more to the British format. Three seasons is a long run for them to tell a story.”

“Rosie Perez is the coolest. She's kind of everything you want her to be. She's involved in so many cool things, political charities and stuff.”

“When I'm working, I'm pretty busy with that, but when I'm not, yeah, I like to make music. I sing in jazz bars and stuff, and then I mainly paint every day. It's kind of like a different side of my mind I like to use, and it keeps the other one fresh, and yeah, writing, I've been writing with some friends.”

“I go into work and get my hair and makeup done, go into wardrobe. I have to do three hours of school a day.”

“The millennial generation wants to express every feeling to feel like you're connected to it, and there's something very dark about tragedy that people are drawn to.”