Joan Cusack

“I love Chicago. It's such a great town, and it's got great culture and great history, and it's not as extreme as LA or New York, and it's just- it's hard for me for work, because I don't live and work in the same place and that's tough. But I'm- I love it.”

“My dad was a very funny man - he's the one who taught me life would be awfully hard without humor! I'm sure his Irish wit in some way influenced my decision to become an actress.”

“We need comedies in the world! We need to laugh, it's all so hard.”

“It was a terrible blow that was dealt when I was fired from 'Saturday Night Live', but I have to say that a few doors opened right away. Movie roles started to roll in, and pretty soon, I was over it.”

“Can they do both? That's a huge balance, I think, with kids- trying to find the right- it's everything, you know, it's social life, it's academics, it's sports.”

“Maybe I'm more drawn to those kind of parts because they are meaningful to me. I mean, more parent-y ones, I find them interesting to do.”

“A relationship is hard in and of itself. And having kids is really hard work, but I think it's really meaningful, as is a relationship. But they all take work.”

“Skating is big in Chicago. There's a lot of hockey; a lot of the boys play hockey. And figure skating is big.”

“I play- it's kind of like a slice-of-life, LA women in their forties, playing forty kind of what's their friendship like, and what's their life like and so I just play one of the four friends.”

“Every week it's another opportunity to really make that work and figure out how to make it work better. And I love that it's like theater, too, and the audience, and it's so short. It's only 20 minutes. It's like a haiku or something.”

“I think America has a bad rap right now... and hopefully Obama will change that.”

“You know, I think I'm more of a micro-person, so to me, the context and the framework of trying to do what you love and feel passionate about, in supporting your family in that way, is the most important thing to me.”

“It was fun; you know, at this point in my life it's like, I want to do stuff that's meaningful.”

“I take parenting incredibly seriously. I want to be there for my kids and help them navigate the world, and develop skills, emotional intelligence, to enjoy life, and I'm lucky to be able to do that and have two healthy, normal boys.”

“I mean, the country was founded on free enterprise. There's good things about it, and there's obviously bad things about it.”

“Mum has always been a huge anti-war activist. She would go off to protest and get arrested. I have her passion, but it is not for politics. I am much more interested in psychology. It's more my job and my natural inclination.”

“I think acting has helped me come out of my shell because when I play a character, I can't be self-conscious.”

“It's incredibly, incredibly difficult to get a movie made.”

“I think there's a million talented people out there, it's just a matter of luck a lot of the time.”