PENELOPE CRUZ

Unfortunately, I am very aware of editing and I look at the monitor too much. Sometimes the monitor can become your worst enemy because you can, consciously or unconsciously, start editing yourself.

I never felt, 'Oh, I think I look good.' I always tend to be more in the insecure side. And I thought that has always been a way to protect myself. Because I don't trust the good feelings that can come from that.

When I was 16 or 17, when I started, I never even considered not doing a project. I just wanted to work.

I really dislike it when the media asks young actresses, normally when they're about 23, how they feel about ageing. There are other things to worry about.

In my everyday life, I just wear jeans, t-shirts and trainers - if I can go barefoot, that's even better. But for the events I have a stylist, and in two hours we have selected a whole outfit.

The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.

I have fear, always, on the set. Insecurity to the point where the first week I always think I could be fired. I think that's a fear most actors have.

There's so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring. In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.

I want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.

You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else's point of view.

Calcutta is like another world. People there are very special and grateful.

Maybe I'll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it's not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now.

I want to be remembered as somebody that tried to respect her integrity as an artist and as a person. And I don't want to be in any box. I don't want to be one thing.

I love Salma Hayek; we've been friends for a really long time. I admire how she has come such a long way and always remained grounded and who she is. She never compromises to follow her vision, and she is loyal. Such qualities only mark the great stars.

I used to dance for seventeen years -classical ballet, which was very disciplined. I like yoga and Pilates, but I don't have the discipline to go to the gym.

Awards are great, as you get to meet up with friends and colleagues from your industry - a sort of reunion.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've worried too much. It always bothers me because sometimes you end up worrying more about the worry and you are not resolving things that are right there in front of you. I have been like that all my life, and it's hard to change.

I don't know why, but women in a hair salon share their deepest secrets.

I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera - so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.

I try to look at the whole thing and say 'yes' to the projects that I cannot stop thinking about. If I read a script and the subject stays with me - then that's when I want to go to work.

Johnny Depp is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that's what I call him, Martian.

I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.

My parents owned a hair salon, so I learned a few tricks there. I can cut people's hair - if they let me.

My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it's about pain, in whichever form it comes. I had a lot of energy as a child - sometimes too much - and I didn't know how to channel it. It was making me suffer. It was bigger than myself, and I was very young.

There are roles I have said no to, but for different reasons. And, I never talk about those because I feel it's disrespectful to say, 'Oh, I said no to this project or that other project.' I'd rather talk about the ones that I said yes to and the reasons why.