Joan Allen

“I think there's been a tendency to place me in what has been characterised as the 'moral centre' of the film. In films like 'The Ice Storm' and 'The Crucible' and 'Nixon,' that's the sort of the persona that emerged.”

“I'm pretty picky about plays.”

“Acting gave me the opportunity to do outrageous things. It allowed me to be sad, happy, angry and lustful, even if it was just vicariously.”

“I learn from each experience, and I take it for what it is and gain what I can.”

“I think that I do separate myself a fair amount. And I don't feel like I am representing women. That's up to however people interpret it once they sort of see it.”

“How do we escape who we are? I think, going to college, I felt freer. I loved the clean slate. I wasn't known as the sort of nerdy, studious girl. I met gay people for the first time in my life. I needed that expansion from a very conservative little town.”

“I get recognised sometimes. But I just live my life. I get on the bus, I get on the subway, it's not a problem.”

“My favorite thing is to hang out at my house, be on my beautiful property, prune bushes, take a long walk, build a fire, and read.”

“I certainly do get at the end of my rope at times. We all do.”

“Once I got to high school and auditioned for a play and got in, I thought this was really what I was looking for. Once that had got cleared up, from 13 on, that was it.”

“'Room' was more a study of an individual event, and 'The Family' takes off from there.”

“When I was 20 years old and first with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, we had an 88-seat theater in a basement and no money.”

“I'm hard to pin down. I tend to look different in films.”

“It's such a great feeling to make people laugh. I know I've made people cry or want to slit their wrists, but to make people laugh is a very intoxicating, wonderful thing.”

“It's important to really listen to the other person and have them feel like they're heard, to make sure the relationship feels equal.”

“I have three wonderful siblings, and we all pitched in equally to help our mother.”

“I didn't really think about being a movie star. I was more about theater.”

“Everything starts with what's on the page, what a writer has come up with. And whether it is a big studio film or independent film, is the story being well told? Is it interesting? Is the character interesting? And is there something about the character that may stretch me?”

“I never liked the bar scene. I tried to like it. I would give it a try every three or four months. I'd think, tonight I'm going out. But I never met anybody in that circumstance.”

“There are not many things that can happen much worse to a family than having a member taken and not knowing what happened to them.”