You can’t control everything, but you can control how you respond to things.

So I won an Oscar. It’s amazing. I’ve got that for the rest of my life for a performance I am proud of. It nearly killed me. I am really proud of the film. That’s it, moving on.

I’m always inspired by actresses who are older than me. Because I know that person has lived so much more life than I have. There’s a whole other toolbox.

When I first read the script for ‘A Little Chaos,’ I just loved reading it, as it is a really lovely, accessible, contemporary period film.

Leo and I are kindred spirits – we’re cut from the same cloth.

I think it’s important to try and bring something real to the screen.

At some stage I’m going to have to say, ‘Right, that’s it. I’m stopping for a bit’.

He’s brilliant. At first, I thought, ‘Oh, is he going to be Hollywood stud-like?’ But he’s a really kind, wonderful person. He said to me one day early in the making of the movie, ‘You know, I was kind of worried about you’. He thought I was going to be a perfect skin, which I am certainly not. It didn’t take long for Leo to crack and see who I really am, and we became very close. but, I must say, he is absolutely gorgeous.

I’m a normal human being. I don’t have any desire to change my body as a result of having had two kids. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Real luxury is having the time to read endless stories in bed with my children. And I get that all the time. I’m so blessed.

The idea of being a mother has always been incredibly important to me.

I’m not a period babe. Not at all.

Yeah, acting is very difficult. As much as I love it, and the challenge of it, I’m so often just terrified by it.

The whole concept of ‘grounding’ children is utterly stupid – they just go off and rebel and don’t like you. When my kids eventually come along, I don’t want them to not like me.

I’m obsessed with ‘Top Chef’.

If I’m not challenging myself, then there’s no point in doing this.

Since I was 13 or 14, I’ve always felt older than I actually am.

I have wrinkles here, which are very evident. And I will particularly say when I look at movie posters, ‘You guys have airbrushed my forehead. Please can you change it back?’ I’d rather be the woman they’re saying ‘She’s looking older’ about than ‘She’s looking stoned.

Many roads to take some to joy some to heart ache.

Single mums do come in for a hard time. Society is incredibly judgmental. I know this.

God, my brain really goes to mush when I’m pregnant.

There are different parts of yourself that you have to explore in order to grow, and as an actor, that’s what you do.

Honestly, among my acquaintances there is no woman wearing XS.

I finally moved out of my parent’s house. It was only fair to let my sister have her own room.

My grandparents – both of my mother’s parents – were actors, and they ran the Reading Repertory Theatre Company, through the town of Reading, where I come from.

I have been lucky enough to have been in some extraordinary films.

I love the routine. I love getting up in the morning and getting breakfast and packing lunches and doing the school run. Those things are really important to me. Because I think that those small but key moments are crucial for a kid.

There’s more to life than cheek bones.

Of course I believe in marriage. Commitment to one other person in life is glorious.

I do have impossibly high standards.

I love the fact that women are able to take risks in this business now. It’s about time!

She has a choice. She can either accept a life of misery or she can struggle against it. And she chooses to struggle…she fails in the end but there’s something beautiful and even heroic in her rebellion.

If you’re not still learning and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career.

You can’t be a proper writer without a touch of madness, can you?

What I am very, very moved and struck by is that so many people in the world are often living a life that they hadn’t planned for themselves. And they wake up one day and say, ‘Hang on. Who am I? Is this really me? Is this what I really wanted?’ And also, ‘Can I change it? Have I got the courage to change it?’

In Hollywood, they’re very interested in youth, and I’ve never felt that way. I’ve always been a very confident person, and age doesn’t bother me.

I want to be known for being someone who loves what she does and does it well.

I went up to Meryl Streetp and said ‘I love you so much I want to tongue kiss you’ And she said ‘OK’.

I’m not very technically minded. I mean, I don’t know how to do e-mail on computers.

I never had a desire to be famous… I was fat. I didn’t know any fat famous actresses… You know, once a fat kid, always a fat kid. Because you always think that you just look a little bit wrong or a little bit different from everyone else. And I still sort of have that.

Being part of something big, like Titanic, is rare. I don’t know how you would follow that, but it’s important to try to take on different kinds of characters.

I wouldn’t dream of working on something that didn’t make my gut rumble and my heart want to explode.

What I’ve learned is that the more vulnerable you allow yourself to be, the better your work will be.

You know why I fear people’s judgment? Because I know they’re judging. I know they are.

I feel very strongly that ‘curves’ are natural, womanly and real.

I don’t want to be famous for being thin. I want to be famous for being a great actress.

Tough, Director, Jane.

I hope I’m always learning something.

My husband is not a jealous person in any way.

At school I used to avoid dance lessons. They were the worst.

I think there’s a real feeling of empowerment in being yourself.

Time, Children, Me.

I accept my body. I accept how I am and make the best of what I am given. Children orientate towards examples. That’s why I talk solely positive about my body in front of my daughter.

‘Holy Smoke’ is very brave because I don’t think it’s easy to watch.

When you’re telling a story, I think you should tell it to its fullest, with reckless abandon, and absolutely let it be what it is.

Sometimes the world needs you to be a little tougher, a little braver, and a little more focused on the end goal.

Because of the person I am I won’t be knocked down — ever. They can say I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m whatever, and I’ll never stop. I just won’t. I’ve got too much to do. I’ve too much to be happy about.

Children, Cooking, People.

As a child, I never heard one woman say to me, “I love my body”. Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, “I am so proud of my body.” So I make sure to say it to Mia, because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.

Guy Pearce played Mike in ‘Neighbors’. I would fake illness to stay off school and watch the one P.M. show, and I would also watch it again when it was repeated at 5:25 P.M. Obsessed.

I’ve always been an emotional person, and I think it helps me as an actor.

Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.

Party, Go, Everything.

Youre supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for Gods sake!

The happiness I feel in having a family has brought me a real beauty.

I don’t think you can really act unless you love the character.

My Own, Own, Like.

I have no regrets. If you regret things, you’re sort of stepping backwards. I’m a believer in going forwards.

Life is short, and it is here to be lived.

Glamour to me is about remaining graceful and understated.

I try to make films that I would want to see. And I love making movies that challenge me.

People, Young, Think.

If being crazy means living life as if it matters, then I don’t mind being completely insane.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what you do in your life, you never stop needing your mom.

The good and bad things are what form us as people… change makes us grow.

I think that as long as you’re feeling good in your own skin, then you can do anything.

People, Hair, Sick.

Femininity for me means happiness and freedom…freedom of being who you are in whatever shape or size you come in.

If you don’t try at anything, you can’t fail.

You can’t choose who you fall in love with, you know?

You can’t be afraid of what people are going to say, because you’re never going to make everyone happy.

Ultimately, you just have one life. You never know unless you try. And you never get anywhere unless you ask.

Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.

I’m just a fucked up girl looking for my own piece of mind.

Plastic surgery and breast implants are fine for people who want that, if it makes them feel better about who they are. But, it makes these people, actors especially, fantasy figures for a fantasy world. Acting is about being real being honest.