As soon as you become a parent, everyone gives you their parenting advice. It's like an onslaught of information about how other people do it.
Essie Davis
I'm a fan of mindfulness, and if colouring in is a way of reaching mindfulness, then I think it's great. But I'm amazed that anyone has the time to do that. I certainly don't.
Everyone has a point of view about corporal punishment.
I never spend more than a week away from the children.
I'm just a very fortunate actor who has not been typecast.
I'm incredibly ambitious, but I feel I've got a fantastic career, and I love the anonymity. I love that no one knows who I am.
I have children, and they demand my full and complete attention. They get that when I'm at home, even during the night, but it is really hard, and I do wonder how a lot of women do it without bawling their eyes out every day.
'The Slap' is not like anything else. It's an incredibly well-written novel that has been turned into a great and intriguing series that reveals both less and more about each character than you learn in the book. It's a novel that has been given a second chance to live.
I think every character rubs off on you a little bit.
I was terrified of being a mum because I didn't think I'd ever be grown up enough.
Phryne Fisher could walk down the red carpet; Essie Davis is something else.
I often get mistaken for all different kinds of ages; some of them flattering, some of them not.
It's hard, but what's the point of having children unless you're there to raise them, I reckon.
Film directors don't come to the theatre in Sydney. In London and New York, they do.
I always knew I wanted to go to NIDA. I think I was very fortunate, and I do doubt myself often, but I didn't see any possibility of me not going to NIDA. I believed in myself, and I believed that, if you really do want something, you get it.
Parenting is meant to be just a natural part of life. You just think you know how to do it but, of course, it's much more complicated than that.
Getting fan mail from Brazil is kind of funny.
I do like having a private life.
There's something great about being on location with a bunch of people - there's a camaraderie and intimacy that builds up over time.
One of the things I have loved so much about the career that I have had is that pretty much every character I have played is diametrically opposite to the one before it.
I think the unemployment rate for actors is pretty much the same in Sydney, London and New York. In all three cities, there are more actors than there are jobs. But I do think that there are far more acting opportunities in London and New York than in Sydney, where there are approximately seven actors that you see over and over again in every play.
I have learnt a lot about theatre, and I would like to know the same about film.
Being a mother impacts every aspect of your life. It's a rite of passage which gives you an entirely different outlook on things.
There are many books that I love dearly, and I've seen many televised or film recreations that I just haven't thought were up to scratch.
I learn the techniques and then take what I need. I have the Essie Davis technique of acting. I'm an instinctive actress.
Sometimes it's easy to do brave things in front of a thousand people, but it's hard to do them in front of a handful. It feels so much more exposing.
Awards and nominations really help sell films.
I've had really a great choice of roles that have been very different from one another. And I think I kind of set out to do that when I began my career - to aim to never play the same thing twice.
People who don't know how old I am can cast me as the woman in 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and can cast me as Stella in 'Streetcar Named Desire,' and they are miles apart.
I feel lucky that I've managed to get the roles I've wanted.
Trying to get over to the 'on camera' side of things has been hard work.
Acting is embarrassing.
I honestly do think that every character - you pick up the things, little things that you like about them in your life. Especially if you play a character for a long time.
I used to buy things for every hotel room or every place I lived in to make it feel like home.
I would love to get a job in France!
I miss my friends in London, and I really miss New York. But I also miss the stability of staying in one place and being able to just open a drawer if you've run out of sticky tape and chuck a new roll in the holder.
I never said I wanted to be a movie star.
I want to have the great roles that move people profoundly. I want to have the choice and be given the opportunity to play those roles, and unfortunately, fame plays a huge part in that.
I don't know if I want to walk down the street and have everyone staring. I think that would be awful. I'm a pretty shy person, really.
Most mothers think they are bad mothers. We all make terrible mistakes, often, and always think we're getting it wrong.
I personally don't resent having my children.
Even though I love fashion and the red carpet dresses are a great, fun, glorious thing, I don't really have my finger on the pulse, as Phryne Fisher does, of the fashion industry.
I love Australia and loved growing up here, and that's something I don't want to deny our children, but it's difficult sustaining a career in Australia.
The news is so instantly available to us without delay, interpretation, or a filter. What is hot right now is streamed live without context or perspective.
I grew up with a love of words.
It's such a magnificent thing to be able to love someone and expect nothing from them.
I wanted to be an actor, but only because I wanted to be everything, and that was the only way I could be a marine biologist as well.
'The Custodian' was my first film, and there were so many lessons to learn in that week. It was really fun, but for me, I look at it as a training film, and I'm not really proud of my work in it.
I think my morals are perfectly... tight!
Goals are essentially private things.
