Awards are great, as you get to meet up with friends and colleagues from your industry - a sort of reunion.
Penelope Cruz
You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else's point of view.
When I was 16, I got 'Jamon, Jamon.' Of course, I had to lie about my age. And I had to lie to my parents about the content of the script.
I was raised Catholic, but then I discovered Buddhism, and I used to have a boyfriend who was a Scientologist, and they are all good religions that help people. As far as I'm concerned, you can have all three religions at once and it's okay!
I learned English kind of late. I remember when I got my first opportunity to work in America, I didn't speak a lot of English, so I only really knew my lines for the movie I was doing.
I have a strong personality, and I say what I think.
The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.
Unfortunately, I am very aware of editing and I look at the monitor too much. Sometimes the monitor can become your worst enemy because you can, consciously or unconsciously, start editing yourself.
I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.
My ambition is to be happy.
All those cliches, those things you hear about having a baby and motherhood - all of them are true. And all of them are the most beautiful things you will ever experience.
I just try not to label myself in any way. I just have an allergy to labels in general. I can tell you that I am surrounded by very strong women and that I really appreciate that, but I'd rather not label myself.
I love the Italian culture - it's a beautiful culture. I love the language, the Italian people, their music, their attitudes... I just love it! Sometimes I think I'm an Italian trapped in a Spanish woman's body.
I don't know if I believe in marriage. I believe in family, love and children.
I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera - so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.
Madrid is what I call home, but also the States.
I have stepped off the relationship scene to come to terms with myself. I have spent most of my adult life being 'someone's girlfriend', and now I am happy being single.
The discipline that ballet requires is obsessive. And only the ones who dedicate their whole lives are able to make it. Your toenails fall off and you peel them away and then you're asked to dance again and keep smiling. I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer.
I always knew I wanted a family because of the way I grew up. Family has always been the most important thing.
There's a lot of work that goes into it - if you think about how many collections a year that Karl Lagerfeld has to do, with Chanel and all the other things he does - you can't do that unless you are working 18 hours a day. It's really a lot of hard, hard work.
I really like the Caribbean. Anyplace in the Caribbean. I get there, and I feel like a monkey - the perfect state.
I can cook a little bit. I can cook a few Spanish dishes. But, in movies, it looks like I cook much better than I cook.
Ever since I was a little girl, I've worried too much. It always bothers me because sometimes you end up worrying more about the worry and you are not resolving things that are right there in front of you. I have been like that all my life, and it's hard to change.
As a kid, I had a lot of energy; but the ballet lessons made me calm - this pleased my mother.
I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I'm always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I'm on holiday.
My favourite actress is Meryl Streep. Oh, and Anna Magnani.
I don't know why, but women in a hair salon share their deepest secrets.
Sometimes you will do a close-up for a scene in the morning where you are totally distraught, then shoot the rest of that scene seven hours later. How do you hang on to that feeling all day without burning up, without going so far that you have nothing left to give when the cameras roll again?
I love Spanish food. My diet is the Mediterranean diet, which is good food. I eat well.
In 'Twice Born' I play my character in her 20s, 30s and 50s. For the fifty year old scenes, I had some prosthetics; it was interesting to see how I'm going to look when I'm fifty-five or so. I actually saw similarities between my grandmothers and my mother.
Maybe I'll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it's not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now.
I want my son - and my kids, if I have more - to grow up in a way that is as anonymous as possible. The fact that his father and I have chosen to do the work that we do doesn't give anybody the right to invade our privacy.
I am not somebody who likes to give advice, or anything like that, unless it's my closest friends or family.
I only drive in movies. I know that's very weird to hear for an American. I have a weird relationship with it. I know how to drive, but I never went to take the test.
One thing that I am proud of: I am really capable of laughing at myself.
In my everyday life, I just wear jeans, t-shirts and trainers - if I can go barefoot, that's even better. But for the events I have a stylist, and in two hours we have selected a whole outfit.
There are so many designers that I love, and I'm so lucky that I get to work with so many of them and sometimes spend time with them. As an actress, you get to go to these events and wear their things - it's fun, but it is what it is. I don't put a lot of time into it, but I respect what they do.
The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.
I try to eat healthily, but I love fried food and bad things. Give me a plate of bread, some oil and salt and I'm happy. But you can't eat like this all the time.
I am someone who worries a lot. I'm always worrying 'what if?' Now I'm a mum - there will be worries for the rest of my life, but they're not about me anymore.
Calcutta is like another world. People there are very special and grateful.
I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 1994. I spoke no English. I only knew how to say two sentences: 'How are you?' and 'I want to work with Johnny Depp.'
I had a very curly perm in the '80s, thanks to the 'Way You Make Me Feel' Michael Jackson video. I liked the girl in it.
I breastfed my son for 13 months, and I plan to do at least the same with my daughter. That's an amazing thing for babies, but it's also really good for the mother because it regulates your body again after pregnancy.
For 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona,' for example, Woody Allen is one of the greatest American directors, and we really had a very good working relationship. We understand each other really well. He gave me one of the best opportunities somebody has ever given me in my career.
I like roles that people don't recognize me in.
Even if you were aware of children and felt compassion, when you have your own, it multiplies. It breaks your heart to know that there are so many children in the world suffering so much.
I have been hearing gossip and lies since I began working. When I was 17, I used to get very angry because I opened a magazine and I saw myself in a picture on a motorcycle, and the headline was, 'I'm getting married next month.'
My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it's about pain, in whichever form it comes.
In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.
