[about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)] I got this movie while I was still shooting Cadillac Man (1990) and had to fly off to North Carolina on the weekends. Everyone wondered what kind of strange movie I was off doing. Only Robin [Robin Williams] had heard of the Ninja Turtles. He had collected all of the comic books and couldn't wait to see the movie. He brought his kids to the premiere and surprised me. The movie ended up being a big hit. I still have a hard time watching that movie . . . I was never satisfied with how it came out. It lost a lot of its soul. Elias Koteas, however, was brilliant.

I think commercials get a bad rap, that there's no creativity to them, but I haven't found that to be entirely true. The process of auditioning for them can be tedious but actually doing them can be really fun.

My advice to new actors is: Don't be lazy, Go after what you desire. Don't heed the commonplace advice that is meant to discourage you. If you want it go and get it. Be willing to work hard and be patient Be kind to yourself.

[about working in Bad City Blues (1999)] I'd been playing a lot of mothers and while I was a mother in this story as well, I got to rob banks, jump off of balconies and shoot guns . . . all while wearing leather!

This work is never boring. I can go from pretending to live one kind of life to another to another to another. It's like a big game of dress-up and make-believe. The longer I do this the more fun it gets and the freer I allow myself to be creatively.

I've shot eight [television pilots] so far. I am an optimist. I believe that one day I will do a pilot that will actually go!