Why an artist loves what they do is often so hard to describe.
Ever since I was 15, when I did my first movie by myself, where my mom wasn't there and I had a guardian, I got to know the crew, and I got to be part of a group and a family. I love that part of it, the friendships that you make.
Men and women are both humans, so, for me, that makes my characters and the work that I do human stories.
Obviously, my life and my job in 2010 is very different from Peggy's experience in the 1960s. I exist in a world that enjoys more equality between men and women. But I don't take any of that into my performance. I just want to play the character as who she is as an individual - scene to scene.
I spent seven seasons on 'Mad Men,' playing what became considered a very feminist character.
I just think that good stories are stories that reflect ourselves back at us and each other.
I love my work, but I do not think that I am saving the world... I am a Valley Girl.
When I was 12, I didn't know about Nirvana or Oasis or any of those people. I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Gershwin.
We grew up with musicians coming over jamming. We had tons of instruments. So holidays were always like, 50 people would come over, and there would be a jam session with everyone playing jazz.
I do think that there is something about an intelligent, strong woman who also needs to be taken care of that will attract a certain kind of man sometimes. And that relationship is interesting on screen. Bad relationships are more interesting than good relationships to watch.
I like characters who have two different things going on, whether it is Robin from 'Top Of The Lake' having that strength juxtaposed with the vulnerability and being in pain, or whether it is Peggy from 'Mad Men' with her naivety and her sort of idiocy at times, combined with her intelligence and courage really to do what she did at that time.
My earliest memories are at the Blue Note here in New York or backstage at different theatres or different clubs, dressing rooms.
I was raised with a lot of classical music. I loved ballet. I was a bun head for 10 years.
I've had to consciously try not to do all television and try to do films.
I'm so afraid of confrontation.
Women need to be able to speak out if they are uncomfortable or something happened in the past that they were not comfortable with.
I do want to be a mother. I like the idea of passing on what my mother passed on to me.
