Jean Smart

“Personally, I think life offers us the opportunity to take chances and make changes all the time.”

“It makes a huge difference in how you feel, the way your costume holds you. When you look at yourself in the mirror, it makes you feel a certain way. Actors like to talk a lot about working from the inside out, but there's a lot to be said also about working from the outside in. It can be extremely helpful.”

“I quit smoking the day I found out I was pregnant, which was nine years ago. But I'll still smoke in a movie. I have other vices, you know, like potato chips and chardonnay - but not together.”

“Lately, I just let myself eat it more because I think, 'Oh, my God, a piece of cheese tastes so good'. I think it's your body telling you something.”

“I'm hoping to have a huge future in voice-overs. For years, people have said, 'I recognized your voice before I recognized your face!'”

“I think that people get to a certain point in their life and they think that nothing can change.”

“We are all a lot more attracted to someone who finds us incredibly attractive. It's very flattering. It feels good.”

“The networks have to answer to their sponsors. That's the difficult thing you learn.”

“When you do a half-hour show, there's only so much you can do. At best, you're going to get a character with two-and-a-half dimensions.”

“I've never met a woman ever, anywhere, bar none, that was more feminine than Dixie Carter.”

“This is going to sound terrible, but once I moved to New York, I never did a civilian job. I was extraordinarily lucky.”

“To me, pause is sometimes the most important, most effective moment in a film or play or anything.”

“I think any woman who has lost a child and certainly lost more than one child, there's going to be a part of them that they keep closed off forever.”

“You know as far as diet goes, for a while I was really obsessed with counting fat grams along with the rest of the world.”

“We all fantasize about a relationship we'd like to do over or something we'd like to change about our past. I think there are a lot more opportunities for second chances in our lives than we think.”

“'24' was so much fun. That was one of my all-time favourite jobs.”

“If it's a drama or comedy, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to like the writing.”

“Unfortunately, a lot of kids don't read anymore. I don't know what we can do about that.”

“I was always snobby about soap operas, and commercials, too, but one does have to eat. I remember auditioning for a commercial for a mouthwash or chewing gum or something, and I had to pretend to be the back end of somebody in a horse costume. After that, I said, 'That's it. That's it. You've sunk too far!'”

“It's fun to do accents; it's fun to do different periods - that's why you become an actor. Because it's fun to be a storyteller and play make-believe.”