• "The people are not the same but a friend of mine who lived in Israel and her mother had died during the Holocaust said the land for her, not so much the people but the land for her, the smells, the contour of the land, the sense of place really became her mother. Israel became her mother.

• "One of the main reasons I actually wrote the book Homesick, agreed to write it having never wanted to do that in my life, very intimidating by the way to write a book."

• "You do become very close like a family but because you see each other for such an intense period of time on the set everyday. You really don't end up socializing that much."

• "Study as hard as you can and if you are serious Los Angeles is the place for television and movies and New York for theater."

• "I use products from my dermatologist but the best things you can do for your skin, are not smoke always use sunscreen and drink a lot of water."

• "I was approached about writing a book and I explored with the publisher what I was interested in writing about."

• "I would consider a half hour sitcom if the script was good."

• "I think things like food, the food of the south is sort of the common tie that binds us all, Black and White, the sense memories. It's a very particular part of the country."

• "If I wasn't an actress I would run a fortune 500 company."

• "I would never do another hour show..it is too demanding time wise..I prefer half hour shows or features."

• "It's about, I did talk about my life in broad strokes and what home meant to me in order to really explore the subject of home and can you go back and what that means for people in that sense of community that we've lost."

• "Most of the press is sent to my publicist so I do see most of what is written about me."

• "My kids enjoy the Disney program, Lizzy McGuire."

• "I have never smoked."

• "Billy Campbell who is... I... truly one of the most talented actors today."

• "I had an art teacher who's the reason I got there in high school who encouraged me to go to Alabama. That's where she had gone and kept raving over their art department."

• "I have a trainer..I run on the treadmill for a half hour to forty five minutes... I also use machines and free weights and do stretching exercises."

• "I have decided not to do the spa. Too time consuming. I have read a lot of Ann Rice because it is like being in my backyard with the New Orleans background to her stories."

• "I have a strong belief in God..I find religion to be a very personal thing... I am also very spiritual."
 

• "I always carry Evian bottle and sunscreen."

• "For me, Los Angeles, New York, where I don't know my neighbors, where people don't necessarily care if they know their neighbors, I'm missing things that truly fed my soul when I was younger, the exchanges between people, the caring and the shared history with people."

• "For example, when my mother died, the people who showed up just to put an apron on to cook, people who really do the right thing, so to speak, as my momma would always say to show that they care, a sense of community that we've lost so much in our country."

• "My life has been about returning home and longing for home, wanting my children to know about my roots. And I thought I can't be the only one to feel this way so I thought it would be an interesting topic to explore."

• "As for ABC you can't take it personally. We had three good years."

• "I haven't heard anything about a reunion show for Sisters. But if the script was good I would do it."

•"Mississippi desperately needs it. We don't have the luxury of oil companies behind us like Louisiana. We're still the poorest state in the nation."

• "I was doing that and starving and somebody said you should model and I ran when they told me how much money you could make and I did a television commercial the first job."

 READ PART TWO OF QUOTES