"I felt that before children I was so into myself, because I had no one else to be into. I just had to take care of me. How can you not be? [Motherhood] divides things. It puts boundaries in your life in a very good way. You know, 'Okay, this is work and I have to be done by this time because I'm not going to be around for this.' It really organizes things--and I really like organization."

"Like every working parent, I sometimes feel that there are not enough hours in the day. But overall, I'm very fortunate that my job has a lot of flexibility. I spend a lot of time with the kids, just around the house. They're still pretty young, so I feel like what I can mostly do is listen to them and be there for them.  I had parents who believed I could do anything - and I
know how that made me feel. I think both my parents, having careers in the
medical profession, feel they are helping people on a daily basis, and that
was instilled in me as a value. I had to struggle with giving up the idea of
becoming a doctor myself."

I’m trying to [juggle it all], but it’s hard: I just had a year off where I put every spoonful of food into Violet’s mouth. Now I’m working and though I’m usually with her more hours than not, some days I just can’t be. That’s hard for me, and for the first time, my daughter.

Luckily my husband is a true partner, and he picks up where I leave off.

"It's really difficult.  It's hard with small children.  I do feel
 torn, it's agony.  Any mother or father will know it's so hard to deal
 with the guilt of leaving your kids.  I'm about to start a movie; I'm
 nervous.  I'm trying to work close to home so my kids can stay in
 school and we can have a nice, stable life and don't have to miss
 school and things.  I think it's important to support your children's
 dreams, whatever they're interested in.  I don't know if my children
 will be actors.  They're not interested at all.  My daughter wants to
 be a scientist and my son wants to be a pizza delivery guy.  Okay,
 whatever [they] want to do.  I have a pretty regular life.  I wake up
 the children at six in the morning, get them dressed and get them to
 school.  Children are the great
 equalizer:  It doesn't matter how great you think you are, you're just
 a mom.  It's wonderful; it's really inspiring to me.  I love what I
 do, but it also helps me to not do work I don't feel inspired to do
 because I'd rather be with my children if I can"

"I don't [really talk to my kids about my work]. I haven't had to.

I just say, 'Mommy's going to work,' and they know that my work somehow involves a trailer. But when I played Joanne Herring, we had done some portraits of me, copying pictures of Joanne, to use around her house. So I brought home this picture of me in this emerald-green gown, and I have these big diamonds on and the nails and the whole thing. The picture was sitting on the dining-room table, and Finn and Hazel came to dinner, and Hazel said, 'Oh, look at that picture. Cuckoo Mommy.' I couldn't believe she even knew it was me."

[On her new show Lipstick Jungle]: "[My kids] adapt unbelievably well and I haven't had one issue yet. Rowan loves the wardrobe room because it's like dress up for her. [My character] runs a film studio and has two kids, and that creates a nice conflict. She's a good mom, she's harried all the time, and she's very smart and ambitious and struggling to balance everything."

"[Managing working motherhood] involves proper scheduling. Obviously, my priorities are my children. They are growing up. I’ll be doing even less work, because that’s what I prefer to do.

As for political activism, I’ve been educating myself on things that are happening around the world. It’s a privilege to be able to do it.

I feel motivated to say or do something because I’m in a position to do so. I’m a mom first. I don’t know if I’m as much an ambassador as I’m a citizen of the world. I just want to learn about the world and its cultures. Lastly, I’m an actress."

"Ben is totally my partner in the whole thing. He'll be putting Violet to bed while I'm onstage every night -- that's just the kind of father he is."