Donna Lynne Champlin Quotes

There are plus-size women who've paved the way - Rebel Wilson, Gabby Sidibe, Melissa McCarthy. I can't wait for the day when I can have a conversation, and it's not about the size of my pants but how I prepared for the role.

There are so many female roles - particularly for young women - that are just somebody's girlfriend or somebody's daughter, or that are accessories to the main story rather than being three-dimensional characters.

It's so rare that you actually get to find a really well-written female lead.

I did things like Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait. I don't know what those films were about. The women I played in them were not very empowered.

I'm always really comfortable writing strong, smart ladies. That's kind of my bailiwick.

I want to play a range, from victims to strong people, just as long as it's a well-rounded character. And it's not a woman who's just there for the purpose of the man.

I won't take parts where the female character has no substance.

After 'Bridesmaids,' women know who I am.

Sometimes female characters start out as the wife or girlfriend, but then I realize, 'No, she's the book,' and she becomes a main character. I surrender the book to her.

It's nice to know that a studio is willing to put a female in a film without expecting the character to have a love interest.

I think female-centric films shouldn't be only about thriller or horror. Angelina Jolie has been doing all kinds of stuff.

My only criteria while selecting roles is that it should be a lead part in an interesting story where the character has depth and layers.

The idea behind 'Gloria' was to take a secondary character - the aunt, the mother - and stay with her as she becomes our protagonist.

Generally a heroine appears in a couple of songs in skimpy costumes and disappears. I am fortunate to do such a lengthy role in 'Dhanam.'

Being a plus-size actress, it is slim pickings, so anytime any role comes up for a plus-size actress, my agents are all over it, and they were like, 'You have to book this job. It's 'American Horror Story.' It's a big deal.' No pressure, right?

I'm just hoping that as I get older, and as more and more movies get made by female directors, what we start to see is how, in the same way good male directors get a shot at creating interesting male and female characters, women do as well.

What I'd look for are roles in which the heroine's character has substance rather than just glamour.

We believe in embracing a woman's curves and I feel like now so many people are breaking down these barriers of not only going to a size 6 or 8, which is considered "normal."

I shy away from doing heroine-dominated subjects.

I am very keen to do a film that's female-led.

There's no conversation happening between plus-size women and designers. The door is never open.

If you look at the greatest performances of women, they're usually older... Anne Bancroft in 'The Graduate,' Kathy Bates in 'Misery.' It's a matter of characters having a life experience that makes them interesting.

I'm drawn to interesting female characters and good storylines.

Rawn did her own thing in her own way. She cast the female gaze on a genre heavy with all-male quest fellowships, trophy females, and the occasional Smurfette. Her world was male-dominated and highly patriarchal, but she populated it with notable numbers of well-drawn female characters.

I'm a woman who is very confident with the body, with my body.