When I first came out to L.A., Hollywood's idea of a Latina was Mexican. It was almost like they had never seen or heard of an Afro-Latina before.
While Hollywood has had a huge influence on the Indian industry, Bollywood and its actors, too, are garnering a lot of attention in the western film world.
Hollywood is portrayed in this super glamorous way, but when I see pictures of actresses going off the rails, it doesn't surprise me at all.
Hollywood is a factory. You have to realize that you are working in a factory and you're part of the mechanism. If you break down, you'll be replaced.
I think being a foreigner and talking about Hollywood allowed me to use some cliches and some references that an American would maybe not use.
The standard entertainment industry reaction to Hollywood's box office slump reveals the same shallow, materialistic mindset that helped create the problem in the first place.
I would like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for giving me this wonderful opportunity to serve as Miss Golden Globe 2012.
There's a real separation between actors and all the other functions of Hollywood. If you're an actor you're somehow not a member of the crew. You're somehow more special. I hate that.
My mother is Greek and my father is Bulgarian. I am a first-generation American and native Los Angeleno. I was born and raised in Hollywood.
By the '40s, Sam Goldwyn is a very serious man. By the '50s, he's the dean of American producers. To the end, he was Hollywood's gray eminence.
It helps being from somewhere other than Hollywood, not having grown up with that sense of film-making. I really wasn't exposed to that as a young woman.
To some degree, Hollywood doesn't know what to do with me because the characters I do are so different. But hopefully, that will give me longevity.
It's not like they just open the gate to Hollywood and off you go - you earn your stripes. I worked ferociously hard even just to get an agent.
I don't think I'm kind of universally known. I think in the indie world I'm probably better known than in some mainstream Hollywood terms.
I tell you, I'm really not what you'd call into your basic kink, even though we do live in Hollywood, which is a little bit like living in a box of granola.
Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.
There is a misperception, if you will, in critical response or even in Hollywood, that I can only do exaggerated characters. Or what they would call over-the-top performances. Well, this is completely false.
Making a movie is still very difficult in Hollywood, regardless of what you have and what level you're at. It is a house of cards, and things have to perfectly align.
I think New York is the center of fashion, even though L.A. has a lot of heritage and the glamour of Hollywood.
Hollywood 'friends' are only after one thing. They're looking out for the next big thing, and they don't want to miss out on you just in case.
Hollywood never suited me, I didn't ever feel comfortable with it, it took me a couple of years but I found where I was always meant to be... Chiswick!
