Rose Byrne
I loved performing; I was always trying to impress my siblings by being a clown. I think that came from being the runt of the litter.
I tend to spiral out of control if I'm not working. I get panicked and don't know what to do with myself.
I often do very serious roles, but really I am a big clown.
Where I am now, you're very much at everybody else's mercy. You have no control over your career in a lot of ways. It's just important to know what your own goals are, because that's empowering.
TV is very much a producer and writer or creator-driven machine in the States. And I'm the kind of actor that needs to be pushed and have someone on my case a little bit, so I suffer from that.
Being an actor is mostly about rejection and being out of work. It was a fast lesson in all of that stuff.
The British are so funny. It's like they can't believe I lived in Hackney. 'You could live in Bondi Beach. Why would you want to live in 'Ackney?' But Hackney's fantastic. I'm serious. There are so many artists there. I loved the markets, the parks, the pubs, the diversity. It was a cultural melting-pot.
I've always thought of myself as more of a character actress. I've tried to do different things, but I've always been under the radar and that's how I like it. I've been really blessed to work this long and I just hope I continue to get better and better and better and better.
I'm ambitious but I'm not particularly competitive. I'll try to get roles, as I think it's healthy to go for things, but... I think there's too much competition between women already. It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.
You see someone on the street wearing an outfit and then it's on the cover of a magazine. I love. But, you know, I'm Australian, so I'm not too flashy or glitzy.
They think I'm depressed because I look serious in photos. It's usually because I'm just nervous. But I've stopped dressing for other people. If I think I look good, that's the most important thing.
There's a lot of intensity when you're on a set. And then it just goes away and no one's giving you attention or flooding you with compliments.
The British are so funny.
It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.
At a certain point, I got into the older, cooler crowd, and they listened to hip-hop. I was desperately trying to fit in.
I used to go to rave parties, too, but I was never savvy with techno.
I liked the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest and Cypress Hill.
All forms of contact are good: letters, parcels, e-mails - I've been trying to get a Webcam for my computer, but I'm such a Luddite.
I'm the youngest of four, and I'm always the clown - making the jokes, wanting attention.
My parents were so relaxed by the time I was growing up that I got away with a lot more.
I've already started saying that I'm 30 when I'm still 29. That way, I'm already there.
I think its important to keep an element of fear about yourself because it makes you appreciate the jobs.
Here in L.A. the standard of beauty is kind of ridiculous. I want to be doing this when I'm in my fifties and sixties and this isn't what I'm going to look like.
Art, a book, a painting, a song, can definitely inspire change, whether it's a small change or a big change but you know there's novels I've read or a scene in a film that I've seen where I definitely inspired something and made a change or addressed an issue in my life or done something cliche like make a phone call.
I see myself more as a character actress than a celebrity.
I'm in love with the city. You can impress an Australian with a city, but you can't impress them with a beach.
You know, I'm Australian, so I'm not too flashy or glitzy... I've stopped dressing for other people. If I think I look good, that's the most important thing.
The physical environment of L.A. is really beautiful. It's actually kinda fun, too, if you're working. It's just not really fun if you're not working and you don't know anybody.
I think it's only through learning, and doing something uncomfortable, that you can actually change. That's why I wanted to do a play. I was so scared of it and I knew my brain would really be stretched and it was going to be hard. And it was hard and uncomfortable. Instead of naturally wanting to avoid all those feelings I need to lean toward them more. But saying that, don't ask me to make a lasagna or a Coq au vin.Collection: Thinking
Anything can happen. Anything happens all the time.Collection: Anything Can Happen
I'm generally a people-pleaser so I get high anxiety from any sort of confrontation.Collection: People
I think it's important to keep an element of fear about yourself because it makes you appreciate the jobs.Collection: Jobs
I've been reading The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, which is obviously very dated now but still relevant. It's so interesting to see how far we've come and how far we haven't come with all these myths that people put onto women.Collection: Reading
As an artist I just think comedic actors are really underrated.Collection: Thinking
Healthy aggression is good, but I think social media can perpetuate that in the worst way. You have to be careful about comparing yourself to others. You can never be somebody else. You will only be yourself, and that's what's great.Collection: Being Yourself
The concept of growing up is so hard to quantify. What have you learned and how have you changed and how have you stayed exactly the same? As I get older, it's something I reflect on more and more. Especially as the generations go on. We wait longer to have families, we wait longer to have responsibilities. Everyone used to be married by 20 and pregnant immediately.Collection: Growing Up
What's weird about the cinema business is that you have to have a thick skin while remaining vulnerable as an artist. It comes with time. You get dumped, your heart gets broken.Collection: Heart
My parents weren't in the arts, but we grew up in Balmain, which at that time was an artistic, bohemian suburb of Sydney. It's a lot more gentrified now. It was very working class, pubs on every corner because it's right by the water so a lot of the guys on the ships and the boats used to go and drink there. It's very posh now.Collection: Art
Comedy has to have momentum in order for it to keep moving along.Collection: Moving
I was very, very shy when I was little. Acting lets you access all those different parts of yourself to make the character authentic.Collection: Character
People would make fun of me and throw things at me and whatever teenagers do.Collection: Fun
The roles for women on television have historically always been stronger and that, I would say, is still true. The question is commerce. That's probably where there's a block for a lot of people, the commerce behind it. Where is the audience? And it's so clear to me that there is a huge audience for female-driven projects. People still seem to think it's a fluke when it happens. That's one of the hurdles that's still left to be jumped over.Collection: Block
I'm absolutely as vulnerable as the next person in terms of being swept up in aspirational Instagrams. You just have to know what is fantasy and what is real. It's always good to have a diverse feed in your life and in your social media.Collection: Real
How competitive am I? A healthy amount. I have four siblings. It was competitive just eating dinner, like, "Everyone, get what you want from the chicken." Plus competing for your parents' attention.Collection: Sibling
I definitely had creative people around me, but my parents were more just very encouraging.Collection: People
The writing is so great on TV now; it's such a pleasure to watch.Collection: Writing
I love TV as a viewer.Collection: Tvs
Making a film is an incredibly technical undertaking.Collection: Film
I have to rein myself in sometimes.Collection: Sometimes
Women watch plenty of television and theater. They're consumers, like everybody else. I think people don't thinking women go to the movies is a thing that still has to be addressed and changed.Collection: Thinking