Emmanuelle Seigner

“In France, I guess there's something like a tyranny in mentalities - we accept success badly, beauty, money. People are certainly envious, and this creates negative energy. This is annoying. I suffered a great deal at one time. I had to fight harder than others. Add to that my marriage to Polanski.”

“My sister Mathilde is an actress, but more like a French Jennifer Aniston. She's famous just in France. She's very commercial and does big comedies. So, acting was part of my family, and that's how I was raised.”

“I've always been very good at convincing people. For instance, if I arrive in an airport and I'm in economy, I can always convince the guy to put me in first class.”

“When I did 'Frantic,' I didn't have a lot of experience. My English was so bad, and I did an OK job, I think, but I was not amazing.”

“I'm sure my children will be artists. I hope they will direct because it is much more interesting. Acting is great, and I love it, but it is very passive, and it depends on other people's desire, and you depend on others all the time.”

“I don't like the idea of fitting into a mould so as to conform. What I like is the danger, the difference - being unpredictable.”

“Acting in another language is great, and I've done that. But you can't do it as well as you can do it in your own language.”

“I never had the slightest desire to have cosmetic surgery - partly because I don't want to look like an alien and partly because it's nice to age in a way. Also, I think that if your soul is beautiful, then the rest of you stays beautiful.”

“I don't like French food. I like everything but French food.”

“When my husband won the Palme d'Or in 2002, I wore the same dress two days in a row. My daughter said, 'Mom! Did you sleep in your dress?' But I think it's cool to wear the same thing. I have to feel comfortable.”

“Sometimes when you do big movies, you can lose sometimes a little bit of soul.”

“I come from a family of actors. My grandfather was like a Laurence Olivier with the Comedie Francaise. Since I was four I went every week to the Comedie Francaise. My aunt and grandmother were there, but my grandfather was a big star.”

“I grew up around the Luxembourg Gardens, so I guess that is my best memory.”

“I don't really want to find myself face-to-face with 10,000 paparazzi. I just want to be comfortable.”

“Everything in life, bad or good, makes you change and grow - happily, because if it didn't, we'd be machines.”

“I think age is just something written down on a piece of paper. I mean, you come across 20-year-olds who are like old people sometimes. I've never taken much account of age throughout my life - my own or anyone else's.”

“There's a lot of good roles for men, always, and for very young girls. But for women, not so many.”

“I did great things in the theater. I did some nice roles, 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' or 'La Vie en Rose.' And I love my role in 'Frantic.'”

“'Venus in Fur' is very Polanski: you have the knife of 'Rosemary's Baby'; you have Thomas disguised as a woman as in 'The Tenant,' when Vanda puts makeup on him, it's like 'Cul de Sac'; the dress of Tess and other details that are very Polanski. He fell in love with the play because it was so much him.”

“I've wanted to be Mick Jagger since I was 18. One of the things I love about music is that you don't have to be dependent on other people like you are in the film business. I hate being dependent on anyone. With my music, I can do whatever I want. I also think it's made me more relaxed as an actress.”