Anna Kendrick
I think right after 'Up in the Air' everyone wanted me to play the girl from 'Up in the Air,' and it took a little while for people to think of me as an actress from a film that they liked instead of just that character.
My goal all along has just been to work and support myself. I've been really lucky to walk away from the 'Twilight' series unscathed. Somebody asked me recently what it's like to be a star. I thought that was the strangest question. If you saw my day-to-day life, the word 'star' just doesn't apply.
I've never really gone for the razzle-dazzle types: no quarterbacks, no flashy guys, and no Prince Charmings.
I'm a pretty big dork. It's crazy. I'm one of those people who grew up with all kinds of musicals, but I was right at that age where 'Rent' was a big deal for me and for my friends.
I stole a little snow globe from the set of the first 'Pitch Perfect' that I don't think ever made it on-screen, so it's not like fans would be tickled by that information, but I still have it.
I think tights make a comeback out of necessity every season: you can only go so far with naked legs in the cold! You've got to protect yourself. I remember going to a fashion show and saying, 'And it's okay if I wear nude tights with this?' to the designer, who looked at me like I just killed his dog or something.
I'm the person who wouldn't send back my food even if I got steak when I'd ordered fish.
I'm attracted to things that are in direct opposition to something that I've just done. It's not like I'm trying to make the right chess move. It's more just that personal thing where you get connected to something for so long and then you want to do something that's in opposition to that.
I actually love actresses who look like they feel really natural. I like Patricia Clarkson, Laura Linney, Frances McDormand. Those are actresses where the second they show up on screen you're like, oh my gosh, this movie just got so much better.
I don't usually drink caffeine so that when I need it, it actually does something.
Voiceover excited me and terrified me. I thought I was going to be really bad at it. It was so freeing and fun to not have to wait for 10 minutes between every setup. They just throw you a direction, and you just say it.
An actor should always let humility outweigh ambition.
I like figuring out where I need to be mentally so that I'm not thinking about the camera and that it's second nature. I want to get to a place where I can exist within the confines of what you can do with filmmaking and not have to think about it.
The sneaker heels thing is a myth. They were saying, 'They're like sneakers.' No, they're like heels is what they're like. That's like saying a denim skirt is like jeans. It's not.
Humility was an important part of the way I grew up. And I found that to be less common when I moved to California. That's not to say humble people don't exist there, but ambition seems really important.
It would be fun to be a redhead... you can get away with being, like, really volatile and fire-y because you're like, 'I'm just a redhead; what can I say?'
I just got on Twitter because there was some MTV film blog that quoted me on something really innocuous that I supposedly said on Twitter before I was even on Twitter. So then I had to get on Twitter to say: 'This is me. I'm on Twitter. If there's somebody else saying that they're me on Twitter, they're not.'
I fall in love with characters when they're out of their element or are uncomfortable and you really feel for them in a knee-jerk sympathetic way.
I get really excited every time there's a female character who is really strong because a lot of females in film are really soft.
People like to make fun of the fans who camp out but people have renaissance fairs; people do Civil War re-enactments; people do what they like. I'm tired of hearing people rage on the fans. If you don't like 'Twilight,' don't buy a ticket.
I rarely get recognised. It's always a shock when someone notices me. I always think they must be confusing me with someone else.
My parents got married late and they had kids late, so I never felt a social or cultural thing to be married or pregnant or a homeowner by a certain age.
There's always moments where you creep yourself out, and you think you heard something and you convince yourself that some spirit is in the room with you, but truly, I don't believe in any of that kind of thing. A lot of my friends really do.
I think there are rock stars within every subgenre, and for people who are obsessed with musical theater Sutton Foster and Audra MacDonald are like Beyonce to them. I'm sure the a cappella world has their own version of that, and that exists in every geeky subculture.
I want to do stage again, because there just aren't words for how great it is. People say that all the time, 'There's nothing like live theater, blah blah,' but it's really true. I see a show and I know how they feel, and it feels great.
To not be self-conscious of your appearance is huge, and something that I desperately hope to carry into film at some point in my useless life - to not be thinking, 'My ear looks weird from this angle, why is the camera over there?'
I filmed seven movies in 2011 and I think that was a mistake. I pushed myself too hard and I want to be able to come to work each day and give 100 percent. I guess I found out what my boundaries are.
I guess as long as people think of me for different ages, I'll trust their opinion. I remember noticing one year that Michelle Monaghan played 34 and 19, so I've kind of clung to that as my justification that I can be Jake Gyllenhaal's wife and a freshman in college in the same year.
I heard people saying they were going to become millionaires by the time they were 25 - that's gross and obnoxious, but in California it's looked on as an asset.
My family has had to become quite understanding about me not returning phone calls when I'm filming.
After we shot the first 'Twilight,' we organized our own wrap party. We really didn't know what this was going to be. Something like that can come at you unexpectedly, and you just have to try your best to deal with it.
When I get recognized for 'Twilight,' it's usually a teenage girl, and they're usually really loud. So it certainly feels like I get recognized the most from that, but it could just be because of the nature of how vocal those fans are.
I stole comic books from my brother when I was a kid, but I was never like an avid fan. I can't claim to be like a comic book geek.
My parents were really, really cool about supporting what I wanted to do at a really young age. I think I was about 10 when I caught the bug. They would drive me down to New York if there were auditions. When I was 12, I did this show on Broadway called 'High Society,' so we moved to New York for the run of that.
It's a lot easier to act when the writing is good. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to figure out 'Well, why did I say this next?'
I definitely think it exercises an interesting muscle, auditioning for bad parts and trying to figure out how to make it real. I don't know what I'm talking about now.
I guess my silly dream is to be on 'Game of Thrones.' I don't think that I can do that, but that's my silly dream. And there are a lot of American comedies, particularly on NBC, that I would, I would love to do.
I'm constantly playing this game in my head where I'm thinking, 'Can this quote be pared down and misinterpreted?' It doesn't matter what outlet I'm talking to and how comprehensive the interview is, because I have to think in terms of, 'Right, but 'People' magazine could just take this one quote and take it out of context.'
I happen to be a huge 'Lord of the Rings' fan. I do an annual marathon of the extended editions.
I started auditioning when I was about 10 and I didn't get my first job until I was 12, and two years at that age is really hard.
I feel like people want there to be this mystery between film and theater, but I just kind of went where I got jobs, you know?
There have definitely been more than a few moments in my life where I'm wondering where the next paycheck will come from and how I'm gonna pay rent.
'Rocket Science' is really where I fell in love with filmmaking, I think 'Camp' was incredible, but it was so bizarre, and I was trying to find my footing in this world where you don't have an audience for immediate validation.
There will always be a part of me that wants to do a movie musical. I feel like you're doing yourself a disservice when you say something like that, because you never know if that thing is gonna come along and be right, but I'd be lying if I said that that wasn't true.
I graduated from high school early so I could move to New York to do 'A Little Night Music' out of the New York City Opera.
I think my iTunes is a kind of strange and embarrassing mix of show tunes and artists that I have no perception of whether or not they're huge or not, you know? I'm the kind of person who doesn't realize that The Arcade Fire is a big deal, but then I expect everybody to know Cocoon, and people tend to not know Cocoon.
When you first saw 'The Truman Show,' did anyone else walk around for the next week not picking your nose just in case?
I was really overwhelmed by the amount of roles that I got offered that were carbon copies of what I did in 'Up in the Air.' I got every offer for every ambitious, unfeeling practically robotic character.
I feel like I'm still learning a lot. I think there's a tendency for people who are just doing their first couple of films that I see now where they seem to be really resentful of the technical limitations that come along with filmmaking.