Winona Ryder

I did 'Beetlejuice,' and it was a big movie, but it didn't help my high-school experience. In fact, it made it worse. I was a freak and a witch.

I love getting older. I think it has to do with always being the kid on set.

I'd rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there's anything wrong with divorce, but I don't think I could do it if that was a possibility.

When your parents are madly in love for 45 years, your standards are really high.

You have to work to be relevant. If you don't, then people will forget, and the studios won't want you because they won't remember the last thing you did that made money.

It used to be that you commit to something, and then basically you spend your year doing that. Now there's a constant conversation of how you have to keep working in order to remind people that you're around.

It's all about knowing when to listen to that conversation and - without sounding really hokey - when to tune it out and follow your heart.

I was fired from a movie because I did 'Heathers!' I was cast in a movie, and the director saw an advance screening and was offended by it and fired me.

I wanted to be just a normal girl flirting with a normal guy. It's like, you meet people, and they know this stuff about you. It's why you want to meet somebody who's in the same business, only because they understand more. But you don't necessarily want to be with another actor.

I was watching TV, and there was this oldies-but-goodies film fest, and 'Lucas' came on. I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm an oldie!'

I'm so sick of people shaming women for being sensitive or vulnerable. It's so bizarre to me... I do have those qualities, and I just don't think there's anything wrong with them.

I wish I could unknow this, but there is a perception of me that I'm super-sensitive and fragile. And I am super-sensitive, and I don't think that that's a bad thing. To do what I do, I have to remain open.

I get sent a lot of scripts where you're just the mom.

I went from weirdo teenager to pixie waif to them not knowing what the hell to do with me.

I love watching old movies, and I read a lot of autobiographies.

Apparently, Bette Davis and a lot of actresses had a hard time in their 30s, too.

I'm used to being told what to say, but not what to think... that's usually left up to me.

When I was young, I was the sweetheart of the press. They loved me but were kind of waiting for me to mess up. I had no skeletons in my closet, no major past to talk about.

When I'm acting well, it's the most exhilarating experience. When I'm bad, it's miserable.

It's great concentrating so hard you feel your brain will explode.

I have my email on my Blackberry, and that's about it.

There's a couple of times that I did it for the... paycheck. Even when I was younger - I remember I did this movie that wasn't good, called '1969.' I totally did it 'cause I could get out of school.

I can see it in even great actors' performances, when they're phoning it in.

With 'Ed Wood,' I sobbed. With 'Frankenweenie,' I was crying. With 'Edward Scissorhands,' I always cry. There's always an incredible amount of purity, even if they look a certain way.

On the set for 'Beetlejuice,' it was before people would go watch on monitors, and directors would be next to the camera.

It's interesting because, even with 'Beetlejuice,' I was an awkward kid. I started at puberty and went through it on film. Lydia was one of my favorite roles because I related to her a lot.

I just did what I found interesting. I was so lucky that I was able to do that, especially in the '90s. I was really able to have a life to go back to.

I did this little movie I really love called 'Experimenter,' but that took six years to get made and no money.

There was a time when all that mattered was that you were in a good movie.

I'm not someone like Norma Desmond who's harking back to her younger days.

I would not want to go back to playing the ingenue.

I'm getting asked a lot, 'You don't have kids, so how do you know how to act like a mother?' I know nothing could compare, and I haven't had that experience, but when my niece was born, I felt like I would jump in front of a car and die for this little person I didn't even know yet.

I'm part of the crew obsessed with 'The Wire.' Like, I'm not over that yet.

People don't realise how much tension they hold in their forearms.

The description of my character in the first few movies I did was always 'nerdy,' but I liked that; it was way more interesting.

The 1980s was the era of the blonde cheerleader.

I would never give advice, because I would feel very presumptuous.

When I think about the stuff I've turned down or the stuff I wasn't interested in, I don't have any regrets. Yes, there were some movies that went on to be really popular. But now, how do they really fit into things?

I remember a lot of conversations where I was constantly hearing, 'You've gotta do this movie so you can do that movie. You've gotta make a big movie so you can make a small movie.' But I can't act like that.

Honestly, if it wasn't for 'Beetlejuice,' where would I be? That movie was a big thing for me.

I want to be a good friend, a good sister, a good person and a good actress.

I was unusual looking - I didn't have the look of that time. If you look at 'Lucas' - and, basically, my first five or six movies - the characters are not described in the scripts as attractive people.

I definitely count my blessings. I feel like I've had such a great ride. Early on, to be able to work with some of the people I did, I feel really lucky.

It's like, sometimes I'll watch a movie, and it's got some big star in it playing a working-class person, and the character is in a grocery store, and you can kind of tell, from just watching the scene, that this actor doesn't do their own shopping. So you have to have some sense of reality.

My problems seemed so glamorous to other people, and everyone just thought I was so lucky. But then, I was lucky because my family was really there for me - San Francisco was a real refuge.

I approached work very seriously. I never went out. I couldn't fathom people who could go out to clubs... I mean, if I had a 6 A.M. call, I had to be prepared. I had to be in bed at a certain hour.

Even though I never really had to pound the pavement as an actor, I always worked really hard. But, at the same time, I always felt like people thought that I didn't have to struggle even though I was struggling.

I don't have a director's mind.

I've always been fascinated with twins.

Usually, the roles that you get offered that are the mom roles are very much the mom role.