Amy Ryan

Amy: (on the differences between film and theater) Well, I think theater is a great education. Theater is a story told with language; and movies, obviously, with pictures. So theater is also a lot of training on your feet - you have to learn to trust your instincts because, really, it's you without a safety net. You can't do it again. You do mess up from time to time, and you go, "Well, at least I can go back there tomorrow night to try to redeem myself." Right now, enjoying film is very new to me, and I feel quite enamored by it. And I'm enjoying telling stories in a shorter amount of time, and moving on to another story and being another person.

Amy: (on playing a character on "The Office") It's a funny thing to enter a show that you're a great fan of - and it's nice to tell lighter stories. I love the dark, grittier side of life, but it's nice to take a break from that, put a skirt on and brush your hair.

Amy: (on whether she found her character in "Gone, Baby, Gone" disturbing to play) Not disturbing to play. Thrilling to play. Disturbing to watch. Disturbing to read about in book form or script form, but as an actor, thrilling to play because it's so complicated. It's not just a bad guy. It's a good guy who makes really, really bad choices, you know.

Amy: I don't have a stockpile of offers, but the scripts I've been reading make me realize it's a different chess move to make. More than ever it's about choices, and trying not to repeat myself and just play drug-addicted single-mom characters. It's natural that people will think of me for roles like that, but the trick is to stay one step ahead, and not make choices to be safe.

Amy:I do believe everything happens for a reason, not just in career but in life. I think there's some lesson to be gleaned - I believe we control our destinies to a point, but what's happening now is a summary of hard work over the years.

Amy: (on her life after the opening of "Gone, Baby, Gone") It's gotten busier, and I've run out of adjectives. Even my mother is complaining that she has no more adjectives. She sent me an e-mail this morning and she just wrote "Woo-hoo!".

Amy: I think sometimes that's really what a lot of women get: you're the girlfriend, you're the mother, you're the wife. That's what a lot of roles are for women out there, but I guess there's many different stories to tell in motherhood.

Amy: (on walking the red carpet) It's like Cinderella. All that gorgeous stuff is all over your home one day, and the next you are picking up a dirty T-shirt off the floor to wear.

Amy: I don't think people, no matter how drastic a situation they're in, I don't believe people really make 180 degree turns in their lives. Human nature really only goes two degrees before the old pattern feels more comfortable that you start going back towards.

Amy: Theater will always be in my bones, and I feel it's always where I'm going to root out bad habits I might pick up along the way. So I will always go back to theater, but right now, I'll leave it be for a while.

Amy: (on the movie "Gone, Baby, Gone") I think one of the really compelling things about the movie is that it shows people for who they are without really judging them. They might have broken wallets or even broken souls, but there's a humanity to all these characters.

Amy: The expectant mind is forever disappointed, so I will stay hopeful that the benefit of working on great scripts like Capote and Gone, Baby, Gone, I hope that becomes the norm. I think, "Do the things that you are most afraid of, and that's what makes you a better actor."

Amy: My God, I take my hat off to every woman who raises a child on her own, either with money or without. It's the hardest job in the world, and I was just playing at it.

Amy: Right now, enjoying film is very new to me, and I feel quite enamored by it. And I'm enjoying telling stories in a shorter amount of time, and moving on to another story and being another person. In theater, you're going to live with that character.

Amy: So theater training is probably some of the best training an actor can get — learning as you go, because you realize it's high stakes all the time, and you have to trust your instincts.