There's nobody on this earth who can tell you that what you're feeling is wrong. They can tell you it's different to what they're feeling.

I don't like things like little sandals that look fragile. I like to look strong and commanding.

Call me crazy - I love elk meat!

Growing up, my dolls were doctors and on secret missions. I had Barbie Goes Rambo.

I don't believe actors who say they don't bleed into their characters. It's absolutely impossible not to.

Dancing for the length of time that I did, it centered me in such a way to be really in tune with my body, and I just feel like I'm physically able to do things because of my ballet background. Without ballet, I don't think I'd look graceful at all on screen.

I want to love life.

The biggest battle that I have is being a woman in the world. That takes center stage for me.

I'm very accepting with my age. It's like notches on your belt: experience, wisdom, and a different kind of beauty. There comes a day when you've become comfortable in your skin.

Every time an adult is going to write something for a teenager and you don't have, physically, a person who is that, you are always going to be a little off.

I think as an American society, when we're paying too many taxes or dealing with war, we don't want to see sad things at the movies.

When I act, a part of me goes into the character I am playing.

I want to be in the small percentage of women who don't settle for conventional roles.

I just want to be a part of great stories, whether I'm part of an amazing ensemble cast or I'm leading it or the antagonist or whatever.

As a woman, you spend so much time either cooking or getting ready to go somewhere. I like to have music when I'm doing either of these things.

To be seen and to be respected for my work and acknowledged as a true American Latina... means a lot to me.

I just want to be part of great stories that are told and for them to be relevant.

Our censorship has sort of gotten a little too far. Too much censorship is just as bad as having none at all. Children need to be exposed to things, because if they don't see it, eventually, it's not like it's not going to happen, but it's just that there needs to be a balance.

It gets pretty boring when all you are is the support system for a male character.

I had to quit ballet because it felt like a part of me was dying inside.

In dance you use every party of your body except your voice. I wanted to start acting because I wanted to use my voice.

If there's anything that I've always said about myself is that to me, it's much more important for me to get to work with filmmakers that I've grown up loving and admiring.

Physical roles give me a chance to learn something new.

I'm a girl from Queens. I've never gone, 'What am I doing today? Oh, I'm gonna grab a gun and learn how to use it.'

I know the responsibility that entails from telling a story. The one thing I despise the most is when I go to a movie and I see a whole bunch of lazy actors making me waste my time and money.

I love the anxiety, the pressure of the loud room full of yapping kids. But I'm a kid myself.

A child speaks more sense than an adult half of the time.

What doesn't feel okay to me, what feels a little bit out of balance, is when you want to turn yourself into something else - when you want to be another person.

I love wearing men's clothing and underwear.

I am fluent in Spanish and I understand French, Italian and Portuguese.

Our brains are very animal but also very strange and egotistical. We're narcissistic.