Amy Adams

“I come from musical theater, and a lot of musical theater is about accepting fantasy. I think it is more about just being open and accepting.”

“I probably never would have been hired on Broadway had I not moved out to L.A. and pursued acting and film, which is sad, really.”

“I was the dork in high school who sang musical numbers up and down the hallways.”

“I saw some musicals at dinner theaters where I grew up. But I didn't go to a big theater to see one until probably after I graduated from high school when I took myself to see 'Tommy' when it was on tour. I absolutely loved it.”

“I'm pretty Sicilian if I've been crossed. I don't seek revenge, but I never forget. And I make it hard to repair, which is not a great quality because if people held me to that standard, no one would be around me - ever.”

“It's always challenging when you're shooting a film. Shooting things out of order and keeping continuity on all levels is always for me the most challenging thing.”

“I'm much more comfortable speaking through my characters' voices than my own.”

“I have worked with some of the meanest people in the world. You can't do anything to intimidate me.”

“I graduated high school and I didn't have a skill set and I didn't want to go to college. I needed a job.”

“I'm not the kind of actress who asks a lot of questions of my directors unless it's something I really need to know.”

“There's such a work ethic involved in theatre that you can't learn in L.A.”

“I like Cinderella, I really do. She has a good work ethic. I appreciate a good, hard-working gal. And she likes shoes. The fairy tale is all about the shoe at the end, and I'm a big shoe girl.”

“I didn't necessarily fit in in high school. I felt very awkward. I still feel completely awkward and weird in my body sometimes. I'm hoping that's going to go away, but I've just embraced it as reality.”

“When I was younger, my sister thought it was funny to pretend to punch me in the face because my mom was concerned about my teeth falling out. They were loose for a long time, and she knocked out my teeth.”

“What I respect in people more than anything is work ethic. And Justin Timberlake's got that. He works his tail off, and he knows his stuff.”

“I research every part thoroughly. I talk it out with my actor friends, but then I throw it all away when I get to the set. You have to be spontaneous.”

“I knew I wanted to be a performer, but I didn't know I would specifically be in film. I actually never thought I would be in film. I always envisioned being on the stage.”

“My job as an actress is to make things work and come up with reasons of my own and not just fill in the blanks for anybody else, you know what I mean?”

“Moving out to L.A. for me was a leap of faith. I was very secure in my dinner theater world; I loved it, and I was just like, 'I think there's something else out there for me and I just have to go for it.'”

“I have to say I've been lucky in that way in that I've been able to go from different films and different genres with different challenges.”