Amber Tamblyn

Amber: (on Diane Di Prima) Every woman - writer or not - should read her book, Recollections: My Life As A Woman. She is one of the most influential women living today. Her writing, the lifestyle she paved for herself in the '60s, pretty much everything about her is incredible. She's like the Beyoncé version of Susan B. Anthony.

Amber: (on Jesse Metcalfe in the movie Beyond a Reasonable Doubt) Oh, how Grecian god he looks in this movie next to my pale Scottish pork roast of a behind. I swear that guy's tears are made of Booty Butter Tanning Lotion.

Amber: (on her book Bang Ditto) I think it's more intimate. It's also sort of funnier. I think I always took myself way too seriously. But I realized that having a sense of humor about this industry and my existence in it is really important. I think it makes me more of a person than a celebrity. I've realized over the years in performances too that it is much better to get people to laugh with you and at you.

Amber: (on leaving House) House is such a great environment to work in, exactly what every actor wants – good writing, steady work, great actors and great producers. I was the most sad to say goodbye to Hugh, because he's the most incredible and giving actor to work with.

Amber: (on whether Olivia Wilde's return to House had to do with her departure from the show) No, it had more to do with us the actors. They really wanted me to stay, but there are reasons I have to leave, because of other things I'm doing. It was my 13th episode, and that's when Olivia had finished her film and was due back. But I was glad...I was going to be real peeved if I didn't get to do something with her, because I've heard nothing but amazing things.

Amber: (on being a director) No way, I hate it. I love writing. It's what I've done my whole life. I have no interest in doing what these guys do. It seems so hard and painful and heartbreaking.

Amber: (from her poem, Laurel Gene) Remember being a star.
This is how to die in the arms of a suburban wind,
learning how to be forgotten
over and over again.

Amber: (on her character from House) I love her social awkwardness, her inability to connect with the other teammates. She's not really one of the guys; she's the outcast. I know that's strange to like, but it somehow comes off funny and endearing, because she is trying. She's a cute little nerd.

Amber: (on people's reaction to the amputation scene from 127 Hours) I think there is a thing going on here. It is like a symptom poll where people hear about this 'terrifying, scary, shocking, disgusting scene' and so when they go to see the movie, they hear that people are passing out and there is an inclination to traumatize their feelings about it.

Amber: (about her role on House) I thought, I don't want to do a medical show. That doesn't sound very fun to me. I started asking my friends, and they all went, `Are you an idiot? It's not a medical show. Have you ever seen it?' I felt very stupid for ever thinking that. I rented a bunch of the seasons, and I watched it and I was really blown away.

Amber: (about the script for "The Russell Girl") It's rare lately that you come across good scripts, with the writers strike and other things. There aren't a lot of really great roles for younger women, or women in general. When I started reading this, I held in the back of my mind the thought that it would be unique somehow.

Amber: (About her friendship with the stars of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" sequel) When I found out we'd be doing the sequel, I was at dinner with America. We both got a message on our phones at the same time. We all try to see each other as much as we can, just to catch up and give each other advice.

Amber: My favorite childhood book would have to be The Little Prince. I have never read such an appropriately dark book for kids. I still find myself smiling at ideas like being able to see the sun some 50-odd times from your own tiny planet.

Amber: (on Sarah Michelle Gellar saying they had a lot in common) Yes. We both like nice shoes. (Laughs) We've also led similar careers. We both started out young on soap operas, we both made shows about supernatural things, and we both have a sarcastic sense of humour. We pick up each other's sentences, that's probably the best way to describe it. We were like that from the first day of shooting. I felt like I was reuniting with a friend, you just pick up where you left off...except we never really picked up anywhere.

Amber: (on Japan) I'd live there tomorrow if I could. I love everything about it - the culture, the food, the people. And you see eight-year-old girls on the subway at 8pm on their own! I would never do that in New York.

Amber: (asked how her Japanese is after filming "The Grudge 2" in Japan) Well, I can give cab drivers directions so that's pretty exciting. But Sarah acted as my translator, literally, because the director, Takashi Shimizu, only speaks Japanese. It was a bit of a challenge! Sarah is much better at speaking Japanese than she admits.

Amber: (on the injuries sustained on "The Grudge 2" set) Doing this movie was like training for the Olympics. There were a lot of injuries on the set, even though we went through this blessing ceremony to ensure that wouldn't happen. It didn't work … I had lots of bruises and scrapes, but the scariest thing that happened, actually, was when I ate blowfish. I swear to God, it made my lips numb and I gave myself a panic attack. I was sitting with a bunch of people and I was, like, sweating and started to take my jacket off and stuff. I was, like, freaking out because it made me really hot and then my lips got numb.

Amber: (on the pressures of Hollywood) I don't know what the destructive thing is all about. The destructive craze, self-destruction, it's very bizarre to me. But I have certainly been pressured to losing weight, especially when I was doing the TV show Joan Of Arcadia. I'd have to lose three to five kilos and it really p**sed me off. People want you to look like everybody else. I just want to look like me.

Amber: Wrinkles, soft faces, older faces are signs of wisdom, which is the greatest sign of beauty.

Amber:The idea that someone like Britney Spears is a role model for teenage girls is kind of sad and horrifying. Britney is the epitome of a nonartist. She has nothing to offer but her T&A.

Amber (on the cancellation of Joan of Arcadia): I'd rather be a on a good show that only runs two years than on a dumb show that's a hit for like eight years, which is usually the case these days.

Amber (about Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants): This will be the fourth time I've seen this film. I'm very proud of it and I think it's a great movie for women of any age. And almost every single man I've talked to has admitted to crying.

Amber: Joan was really neurotic, almost bipolar, swinging back and forth between emotions - almost like a Lucille Ball.

Amber: It's interesting - there's a lot of my poetry that I don't think I could ever publish because it's almost too personal.

Amber: Developmental disabilities affect millions of people either directly or indirectly. I wanted to get involved because getting treatment can be really expensive. To know there might be help for your child or someone you love but not be able to do anything about it simply because of money is terrible.

Amber: I'm glad that my life is private. I would give up acting in a second if I thought my life was going to be open target for anybody. That scares the crap out of me.

Amber: There are two different types of people who want to enter the business: those who want to act because they recognize their natural talent, or believe they can learn the art, and then there are those who desire fame. If you think you have what it takes, then get your butt out there, and go for it!

Amber (her advice for young girls): Never sell yourself short. I mean that in the biggest, most huge way that you can possibly think of that term. Don't sell yourself to men, don't sell yourself short to your image, don't sell yourself short to magazines that portray an image that you feel is a standard for how you should look. The most interesting people throughout history have been trendsetters; always, in every field, in every aspect, they've always gone their own path, their own way. They've always walked alone.

Amber (in reference to the difficulties that young girls face): Social anxieties and image in general. I've been really fascinated recently by watching the shows on MTV, like Sweet 16 and Laguna Beach. I'm fascinated by this whole new generation of cultureless and deprived white kids in suburbia, and I feel like they have no connection to the outside world, and we're totally glorifying this image. We're glorifying that all white kids are dumb and cultureless. That's what MTV does and that's what a lot of magazines do, and you look at the role models for that as well, and that also plays a major part in it.

Amber: When I was 12 years old, I was on General Hospital, and I would mess around a lot on set. One day, during an emotional scene, the guy who played my father on the show strongly told me to 'sit down and be quite.' It was so traumatic at the time.

Amber: A business like acting is 90% luck. You can be a star one minute and out of work the next.

Amber: A lot of times in slam poetry I feel like people are so worried about the performance that the words might not be as strong.

Amber: A lot of people think I'm cynical when I talk about acting. The truth of the matter is, I just don't want someone to get some lame advice that will send them in the wrong direction.

Amber: Honestly, I am not trying to discourage anyone from becoming an actress, but if you want to become one be prepared to face everything that comes along with it.

Amber: I'm influenced by female writers more interested in their own deconstructions and who are really clever and hilarious. Like Virginia Woolf or Katherine Mansfield or Corrina Bain.

Amber: A lot of young poets today, from what I've heard and experienced, can't get their heads past George W. Bush, and I've heard so many poems about this democracy and this era of politics that I'm kind of bored by it.

Amber: I write poetry that 17-year-olds can understand. I know a lot about teenage girls, and sexuality, and what they do know, and what they don't know ... so the thing for me is wondering, will parents think, "Oh, Amber Tamblyn from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, has written a poetry book, let's get it for the kids." But they're going to get something different, because there's something different here. And luckily for me, I didn't publish the worst of my language, which is good. I didn't want it to become distracting. "Role model" is a weird word. I'll be a role model for as long as people want to follow my role.

Amber: I think writing is an art form, and acting. It all stems from the same general place from the human mind and the body. I think I always sort of took to it, and really enjoyed it. My second family is up here in San Francisco, so I was raised around the poets of the Beat generation in San Francisco, so it's sort of second nature to me.