Mamie Gummer

L.A. is... I always feel sort of abducted when I'm there, like I've stepped onto another planet where everyone looks the same.

I was a theater major at Northwestern University and won a role in a play called 'Mr. Marmalade' after I graduated.

I don't think I'm ever really going to run the risk of disappearing into a Marvel franchise. I just don't know how I would fit into a catsuit.

I love the energy of an independent film set. No one is there for the money. Everyone is there 'cause they really want to be there. It makes all the difference in the world. It's without ego and agenda, other than just wanting to fulfill a creative dream.

I feel like I've been the star of my own show for a while now. I was always putting on shows as a kid, and obviously, my household was really creative.

I've kind of blocked it out, but a good friend affectionately reminded me that yes, I was a dork. I was not a cool kid in high school.

I feel like I'm a secondary artist, a kind of a conduit for the writer, and if it's a good writer, then I have a great road map.

I went through so many phases because I moved schools a lot. I grew up primarily in Connecticut, but also here in L.A. for five years.

A lot of the scripts I read and the characters I get are 'the girl' in romantic films, and I don't know how comfortable I am, or the world is, with me being that.

I play-acted and started performing, which just logically led to doing it in school, which led to studying it in college, which led to auditioning to the showcase in New York. And then I had an agent, and I was an actress.

I like the Dodgers because my dad does - wait, no, not the Dodgers. Strike me down! The Yankees. I like the Yankees.

I was an optimistic person, really bossy, gregarious and outspoken.

I'd like to learn how to cook. I've hauled around this big, old, heavy Martha Stewart cookbook in my suitcase to Cape Cod, L.A., Paris. I don't know what possessed me.

I watched a lot of old television growing up - a lot of Nick at Nite. I watched 'Rhoda', 'Mary Tyler Moore', and 'I Love Lucy.' Growing up, I loved 'My So Called Life' and was devastated when that went off the air.

Our parents have, by far, the greatest influence on shaping who we are and how we deal with the world.

My eyes are too small, and they're too close together, and I have a pointy nose. But who cares? Who cares?!

If I do have kids, I can't wait because I'm excited to go back to school to help them with their homework and remember how to do simple math. I think it's about staying curious and not losing the sense of wonder.

I like how steady the work in television is. Films, they're hard to come by. They're elusive. I've done a couple, independently financed. You do them, and maybe a few people will see them.

My first day on the set of 'John Adams', I was just supposed to fly to Virginia for a costume fitting. But the director figured, why not shoot it, too? So they threw me into a dress that didn't fit, gave me lines I hadn't seen, in a dialect I didn't know, and two screaming, arching infants.

My favorite charity is the Women's Refugee Commission and the Nomi network.