Quotes

[on her role in My Father the Hero (1994)] There are still men who come up to me today and say, "You were really hot in that film!" I was 14, for God's sake!

One of the most interesting things about that show [Roswell (1999)] for me was that because Isabel was an alien, I got to do many things, so that was creatively satisfying. I think anyone's fear of getting involved in a show that could run for several years is that you'll be playing only one character for that long; that can get stale for an actor, so on "Roswell" I really lucked out.

["Razor" Magazine interview] I'm grateful people think I'm beautiful or think I'm sexy, and I suppose it's better than the alternative, but I do try to fight it a bit so it's not all people see me as. And I'd love to one day be in a position where I could choose a role to showcase my creativity versus just my bra size.

I love changing my look. I would love, love, love to cut all my hair off into a really short, punky haircut.

My own mother told me I didn't have a shot in hell of winning tonight. [While accepting the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Isobel 'Izzie' Stevens on Grey's Anatomy (2005), at The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2007).] [16 September 2007]

[on Knocked Up (2007)] A little sexist. It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I'm playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you're portraying women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.

I'd like to start talking children seriously in the next year [2009], but [my husband] Josh feels more like two years, so we'll probably do a year and a half. I'm excited about having a big family. I'm talking five or six.

[on Hollywood stereotyping] You're the blonde. Or the cheerleader. Or the girlfriend. It would have been really easy to fall back on the blonde and the bra size and just do that for the rest of my career.

My mother says she thinks I wouldn't have appreciated success the same way if it had come faster or more easily. Now it's a much bigger reward.

People who know me well know that I have an opinion about pretty much everything.

If I wasn't in this industry, I wouldn't work out. But I have hips and a butt and everything that goes along with that, including cellulite! So I do the best I can.

I pride myself on being kind. But that's not to say there aren't moments when I'm a diva. Everybody has bad moments.

[on Gerard Butler] He's a man's man, and that's what makes him so appealing. We all talk about how we're missing the Cary Grants and those movie stars of old that were just these sexy, charismatic men, and I really feel like Gerry is filling that missing thing right now.

If I spread myself too thin, I'm not a good actor, I'm not a good mother, and I'm just really high-strung - and everybody hates me.

My husband and I feel strongly about manners. When people are impressed by our daughter's pleases and thanks you, we feel like we've won the Parents of the Year Award!

[on her mother being her manager in Hollywood] She didn't care if she made any friends in this town. This is a fear-dominated industry ... and my mother refuses to be intimidated by that. This is all a game of chicken, and my mother is really good at chicken.

[on admiring Sandra Bullock] Whenever I'm about to do or say something, I first think W.W.S.B.D., which stands for What Would Sandra Bullock Do? I don't know her personally, but from what I've seen of her and what I've read about her, she seems to be one of the most well-spoken, gracious, charming and funny women in Hollywood. If I could get there, I would like to be just like her.

[on her brother's death] That's one of those experiences in a family that changes the whole dynamic forever. It doesn't mean that everything is horrible forever, it's just that we were a certain kind of family before that happened and we are a different family now he's dead. We are all keenly aware of the precariousness of life. You can't not be now - it was a moment that changed everything. You think, "If only he'd sat in the front seat that day, and not the back", and suddenly you're thinking, "We ought to be more careful about our decisions". Over the years you realize that we have no control. Things happen without warning. We are not the perfect family. We don't say "I love you" every time we talk to each other. But we try not to take each other for granted. One regret is that you wish you had a few more moments to tell them you loved them.

[on her complaining on the set of One for the Money (2012)] I was complaining about the hours and one of our producers said, "You should ask Debbie Reynolds about her hours on Singin' in the Rain (1952)", so I did. It was so horrifying what women had to go through to make that movie. It was her first big break and she was working with an icon and they were dancing and singing. She said they worked 20 hours a day and she would get a few hours sleep on her sofa in the dressing room and then go back to work. It was so much that I thought she was exaggerating. Then she told me how she had to dance with bleeding feet at one point. Gene Kelly wanted to stop because Debbie's feet were bleeding all over the scene and she was like, "No, no I'm fine. I can keep going". So then I stopped complaining about my hours.

It's so stupid. I started when I was like 22 or 23, and I had my first cigarette at a bar one night, and I was like mmm. I'll try this. I can have just one. I am not gonna get addicted. Then you start bumming. 'I'm bumming. I don't buy my own packs. I'm not addicted' ... Then you're borrowing like 10 a day. Then you go through something that is hard or difficult or stressful and you buy your first pack and it's all over. And now it's all about how you're going to quit. I've tried everything. I've tried Wellbutrin, a drug also used to treat depression, which made me really happy while I smoked. Tried the patch. Tried gum. I hate the gum. It burns my mouth. I think I have to quit the old-fashioned way...

[on wearing a thong in "My Father the Hero] Oh God, I look back now, and it seems so gross. At just 14 years old, I had to wear a thong bikini. And then they used that scene in the trailer, so my entire school saw it! There are still men who come up to me today and say, "You were really hot in that film!" I was 14, for God's sake!