Maggie Gyllenhaal Quotes

I kind of stumbled into acting, even though I've always been fascinated by people and kind of their motives, and it's been amazing to me, everything I read before about psychology, philosophy, just to put it into practice somehow.

I think everyone's intentions are to become a performer at first. But by the time I was in high school and college, I discovered that I liked writing and that I was probably a little better at it.

I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.

When I started working for Rolling Stone, I became very interested in journalism and thought maybe that's what I was doing, but it wasn't true. What became important was to have a point of view.

I begin to perceive that I am a woman. What that is, heaven knows... the philosophy is yet to be written, there is a world to be explored.

And I taught acting for years, and without knowing it that was the real thing that started bending me toward directing.

It was Vikram Bhatt and 'Raaz' that got me interested in the medium of cinema. Before that, I was like any other youngster dabbling with various things - modelling, films - without a definite direction or focus. Now that I'm working with all of them, life has come full circle for me.

For me, life is like an act within itself. Everything I do is an act. Where I'm going is an act.

The great thing about film is you start and finish. It's a journey that lasts so long, TV lasts a long time.

I spent a long time working in the movies to figure out that kind of acting and also how to write and produce for the screen.

I always loved movies, but I never thought I would presume to be a screenwriter and definitely not a director.

I've always loved film and wanted to work in film. I just love working and creating new characters, and trying different genres and different things.

One of the things I like about acting is that, in a funny way, I come back to myself.

I try to stay consciously away from the roles of the girl who throws herself at the leading man, because I've done it a lot and I want to move on. I ticked that box.

I'm still auditioning and doing other movie parts, but I really like the developing and the writing. You have more control over your destiny.

I believe acting to be my own journey through connection more than anything else, but that's only my take on it.

Trying to give an individual a voice has always kind of been my mission in my life. As an actor, I've always seen that was something that needed to be done. You need to find that voice inside of you so that you can stand up and be who you really are.

I love directing.

I've always loved movies since I was a kid. I loved how they could make me happy, sad, or just show me different parts of the world and people. So when I was about six, I decided that that was what I wanted to do: make movies.

I've been interested in the writing/directing thing and really fell into acting by complete accident.

I just like to act and write and produce. To me, making movies is the ultimate goal.

At first I was always cast as the girlfriend. It was a long time before I got to play characters who were people.

I've acted just to get to directing.

It used to annoy and frustrate me to have to come in and audition. I would say to my agents, 'Haven't they seen this film and this film and this film? They know what I look like... They must.' Until I directed an episode of 'Roswell.' And all of a sudden, I realized why that was such an important thing.

I want to continue to make beautiful movies. The most important thing is to be a part of beautiful stories, that's all I want. So I don't care if it's a Hollywood movie or an independent movie or a Spanish or American movie. I care about telling stories.