- [on her retirement from acting] Do I regret quitting? Absolutely not. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I had the privilege of watching my children grow up. I was there for the joys and the sorrows, the challenging heartbreaking times as well as the giddy, exuberant triumphs. I would not have traded those years for anything in the world.
- I really enjoy acting. At home I can't even finish a sentence, and here am I reading these wonderful lines. I think it must be every housewife's dream, to be an actress part-time.
- I still have a problem with nuns. I follow them around like a kitten with a ball of yarn.
- I'm not that fashion-conscious. A lot of time, when women are appearing to be so perfect, it's because they're a mess underneath.
- If you meet people who have been successful in Hollywood, or look at their photographs, you see a haunted look in their eyes. You sense a trapped feeling.
- [on her role in Bomb Girls (2012)] It wasn't just another job, stacking cans of tomatoes in a supermarket. I was building the bombs and the ammunition that my sons were using. If I built a faulty one, it might mean that they might die. There was a real sense that we needed to do the best job that we possibly can. At least for my character, it was vitally important. It was almost obsessive: that if she does her best she will keep her kids safe.
- [re 30th-anniversary reunion of the The Big Chill (1983) cast in 2013] It's wonderful, I'm so happy they had the idea to bring us all together to do this. It's such a gift, I get to see everybody again and I haven't seen everybody in so long. To see their happy smiling faces, that was such a blessing, I'm really grateful.
- [on her Chinese heritage] Unfortunately, we were not raised to respect our Chinese history and tradition. My mother and father divorced in 1963, when I was three. My mother was quite bitter. She spoke very angrily about him and everything Chinese. If ever you did anything bad or selfish, it was "the Chinese coming out in you." We were told that we must never tell anyone that we were half Chinese, because if people knew they wouldn't let their children play with us . . . The difficult part was growing up, feeling like I had to reject and deny and turn my back on half of what I was. The wonderful part is, that is behind me now. Things are different . . . You didn't know I was Asian, because for many years, I had my mother's warnings echoing in my ears. I didn't tell anyone. I was grown, but still, I was scared. Thought it would limit me, the roles I would be offered. It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I started to tell the people closest to me. When they didn't run in horror, I got braver and spoke of it more. What a relief it was to finally acknowledge all of me.
- [on Valmont (1989)] Even though the movie wasn't successful, I was so proud of the work we all did in it. The cast of Dangerous Liaisons (1988) was shooting in Paris at the same time but what they did is they shot their film very fast - they shot in it three months, whereas Milos shot his in six months - so it took a lot longer to do. We were there before they showed up; they shot their film, went back, cut it, and got it in theaters in time for the Oscars of the year before and then we came out the year after so it seemed like a repeat, even though we had been working on it.
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