Bonnie Hunt

I don't think of myself as a comedian.

I would hope to have some of the same audience that Oprah has earned. And I would love to earn that, as well.

I worked at a nursing home though high school... There's a lost appreciation for a generation that has so much to tell us when we're so full of self-help books and doctors on TV.

I have a great affinity for senior citizens.

It's not that I don't take TV seriously. I take it very seriously. But I've got my priorities straight. Call it my extra gift. Without it, I would be devastated every day in Hollywood.

You gain a certain maturity from being a nurse in a cancer ward.

I keep saying I won't go back to television, but I do.

I was so angry at God for taking my father from me that I marched up to my mother before the funeral and told her I was going to quit nursing school. I just wanted to stop living.

I only have one job, and that's being a storyteller.

I am on the phone with my sisters every day.

Everyone hopes to get a fall slot, but I'm just happy to get on the air.

When the Pixar people call, you jump at the opportunity.

I'm trying to be truthful.

If you're authentic, people smile because they sense there's a piece of themselves there.

I thought of Second City as just the greatest therapeutic job anybody could ever dream of having.

When a fan holds out Helen's picture for me to autograph, I usually sign it Linda Hunt - just to make their heads really crazy.

My mother gets told, 'Oh, you're so lucky that your daughters are doing so well.' She never corrects anybody when they assume Helen is her daughter.

Everywhere I go, people think I'm Helen Hunt.

I love writing.

I am a storyteller, and I take great pride in the storytelling and a great joy.

Carl Reiner is perfection.

Over the years, if you look at the films of people like Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, their supporting characters, even if it's a doorman with two lines, always seem three-dimensional. To me, that's a sign of good storytelling.

I lived in an apartment near Wrigley Field.

I really appreciate the everyday stuff as far as material.

I think what happens is that some writers, who are so great in television or whatever, once they become successful, they get out of the loop of real life. It's real hard to draw on something to write.

Barry Levinson saw me on a tape and put me in 'Rain Man' as the waitress who dropped the toothpicks. The scene was talked about a lot. Then, all of a sudden, I started to get more auditions.

What kind of woman irons her husband's sheets? Even the clothes I wear, I just throw 'em in the dryer with some golf balls.

If you can maintain your standards and your integrity and you fail, it's OK. It's when you sell out and you fail that you feel pretty sick inside.

I love talking to people and finding out their opinion.

To have children on the set, you realize that if a 10-year-old can do it, who are you kidding? It humbles you.

I loved when my folks would watch 'The Dean Martin Show.'

I like regular meals and restaurants that will adapt things to your taste. Not a place where they roll their eyes if you want the sauce on the side.

When you're the mom in a big family comedy, you have to get your personality when you can.

If an executive producer has written a certain line, and an actress says it, and it's not very funny, you don't dare go to them and say, 'I don't like this,' because it will make your life miserable.

I don't have the fear of my looks changing.

I don't have the fear I won't be able to think of something else to write. It's what I do.

My dad was a man of great wisdom in his short time here.

When you're an actress, you are a part of the storytelling process. You have to do the same thing when you direct.

Not only do people stop me on the street to say, 'We're walking, we're walking', but I have actually been in restaurants where the hostess was saying it to customers.

I'm from an Irish Catholic family.

There were seven kids in our family. My mom had seven kids in 10 years. So you had to learn how to talk and think fast if you wanted to be heard.

Hollywood is what you make it; you have to choose company with care because you become what they are.

Everybody knows when you're a struggling family; you don't really know it when you're a kid. But you do know the difference between stress and moments of relief where there's, like, this happiness.

I don't know if I realized that I was funny, but I realized how healing and important humor was in my childhood.

The first time I was on 'Johnny Carson,' I remember being so scared, but the minute he started talking to me, I felt a little more comfortable because I just knew he was going to take care of me. Hopefully, I have learned something from watching him for so many years that I can offer that to a guest.

I've been so fortunate in my career and my own life just to have all these opportunities, and the talk show has always been one of my favorite formats.

Oprah was not somebody who was telling us what to do, she wasn't really teaching us like so many people we see today. With Oprah, she was learning and we were learning with her. And I think that's really was the seed that was planted for all of us to just hang in there with her.

I don't think this is the end of Oprah, it's only the beginning. I have a feeling that she'll probably have her own station, and continue to do what she does.

But I'm thrilled to be employed, and to work with all my friends and people that I admire. You're just lucky to work - that's the bottom line.

I won't wear fur - never, ever. I'm an animal lover. I wouldn't even wear faux fur. I prefer to go the cheap route and not shave my legs.