“I would get eaten alive if I did Shakespeare in Britain.”

PERSONAL

On her bizarre therapy:

“I would never want to commit suicide, but I have thought about it. I find it a very comforting feeling, when you’re stressed out, to be able to say, ‘I could walk in front of that bus right now.’ “Why did I say that? I love my life. When you feel you’re in a rut or something’s not going right, it reminds you of the power you have, and why it’s very precious to be alive.”

On her good girl image:

“It depends on what you want, if you want people to see you falling out of nightclubs or not. The actors I respect are the ones you can believe in because you don’t know about their personal lives! “I live in New York, but I have my fair share of fun, but I don’t want people talking about what I do in my private life.”

About having Opinions:

“I have opinions, and I’m not afraid to express them. But I still am a girl, and girls have this thing where they’re eager to please. … If you’re too opinionated, sometimes people are put off by that, and nobody wants to be off-putting.”

On writing at the age of 16:

“People say you can’t have anything to write about at my age. I do have life experience. When people underestimate my experience, I get mad.”

On growing up:

“I would act out scenes from movies and television shows, and I’d get up on tables and pretend to be a rock star.”


CAREER

On acting:

“Acting is the glory of my life.”

On stripping down for a movie:

“No matter what the context is in the actual film, it can end up as pornography on the internet.” -2007

About Jason Lee (A Guy Thing):p>

“Absolutely! I’d be at work at 5 o’clock in the morning after working all night. I’d be fading and he’d crack some joke and make me laugh. There’s actually a scene in the move where we’re talking and I burst out laughing, but me bursting out laughing is actually from him just making me laugh in one of the outtakes as opposed to me actually being in character. He’s hysterical – I stole all of his jokes and took them back to school with me and made everyone think I was really funny.”

FAMILY

Julia about her parents:

“It was tough, but the key is that she had my dad helping her. They were liberal, progressive types, and they completely split both roles—running their pottery business from our apartment and taking care of the kids and my dad never took it as, like, an affront to his manhood.”

About being the oldest of three children:

“I got to be an only child until I needed a decoy!”

EDUCATION

About going to College:

“It makes me really happy; I enjoy it a lot. I also think it makes me a better actress. It just teaches you to think differently. It teaches you to analyze, and especially being an English major, it teaches you to interpret characters and story telling. It also forces you to learn how to express your ideas in class, and in the papers that you write”

About being famous and College:

“I remember when I had to go to the MTV Video Music Awards and they sent this huge white stretch limo outside my dorm. I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’ and these sorority girls came home and made fun of me. It was totally embarrassing.”

On being on the cover of Cosmopolitan in a bustier, heading the magazine’s list of “The Hottest Chicks in Hollywood:

“My literature professor actually called me and said, ‘Now that you’re on the cover of fashion magazines, you think you don’t need to come to class?’ ”

HOLLYWOOD

About giving Interviews:

“What I’m going to do is never, ever make a joke in an interview.”

About Hollywood:

“You can get praised in Hollywood for a film that opens big at the box office, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are doing good work.”