Ann Dowd

“I think 'The Leftovers' is one of the most extraordinary shows that has ever seen the light of day.”

“I was so grateful to win an Emmy, but just being nominated, it's not overrated!”

“It's a question of dropping the armor and getting up and doing the work you want to do. And film at first is frightening because you are like, 'What's that camera doing?' But then it becomes family and therefore a really wonderful experience.”

“In general, between an actor and a character, there needs to be a falling in love, if you will - which I'm saying in quotes.”

“Forgiveness, in some cases, is a flipping miracle in the sense that you're fighting, and suddenly something happens. It's a kind of grace. Whether you believe in God or not, something happens, and it's transformative.”

“I had been a premed student, and the way you got through premed was to work extremely hard and then harder.”

“Wherever the career wasn't going the way I wanted it to, I would experience those disappointments, and I would put them somewhere where I could say, 'Come on now, you're still working. Keep your focus where it belongs.'”

“I have to say my background was mostly theatre, which I love, and it took a long time to feel comfortable there. That's probably true of anyone's career.”

“The first time I read 'Leftovers,' I didn't get it at all.”

“When I was pregnant with my first child, I was 35 years old, and I was working in a pet shop.”

“In my experience as an actor over so many years, I don't know when I have been touched so deeply on so many levels as I have been by 'The Leftovers' in my three years there. It is a profound exploration of life, of grief, of loss.”

“I think the theater is where you stand up, and you say, 'Here is what I have to offer.'”

“Two of my aunts are Catholic sisters.”

“Anything or anyone that limits the dream you have for yourself and for your career is just to be dismissed. Do not keep that company, and do not hear those words.”

“My father, John, ran the Dowd Insurance Co. in town, which was started by his great-grandfather. My mother, Dolores, was a homemaker who kept an eye on all of us.”

“TV is terrific. It's really fast paced which I find difficult.”

“I look at all these wonderful actors who are out of work, and I don't know what accounts for my good fortune, but I'm grateful for it.”

“All I ever wanted was a successful career as an actress.”

“It's a funny thing about being raised Catholic and then going to Catholic schools with nuns - the cliche about the mean nun was not what I had at all. They were very, very smart, devoted individuals.”

“When I think of those in the 'far right' or those who are pro-life to the extreme and at all costs protect the unborn, the thing that enrages me is you want to ask every one of them, 'How many foster children are in your home now?'”