Rose Byrne quotes:

I liked the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest and Cypress Hill.

I loved performing; I was always trying to impress my siblings by being a clown. I think that came from being the runt of the litter.

I used to go to rave parties, too, but I was never savvy with techno.

It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.

Art, a book, a painting, a song, can definitely inspire change, whether it's a small change or a big change but you know there's novels I've read or a scene in a film that I've seen where I definitely inspired something and made a change or addressed an issue in my life or done something cliche like make a phone call.

The British are so funny. It's like they can't believe I lived in Hackney. 'You could live in Bondi Beach. Why would you want to live in 'Ackney?' But Hackney's fantastic. I'm serious. There are so many artists there. I loved the markets, the parks, the pubs, the diversity. It was a cultural melting-pot.

Here in L.A. the standard of beauty is kind of ridiculous. I want to be doing this when I'm in my fifties and sixties and this isn't what I'm going to look like.

They think I'm depressed because I look serious in photos. It's usually because I'm just nervous. But I've stopped dressing for other people. If I think I look good, that's the most important thing.

You see someone on the street wearing an outfit and then it's on the cover of a magazine. I love. But, you know, I'm Australian, so I'm not too flashy or glitzy.

The physical environment of L.A. is really beautiful. It's actually kinda fun, too, if you're working. It's just not really fun if you're not working and you don't know anybody.

I'm in love with the city. You can impress an Australian with a city, but you can't impress them with a beach.

At a certain point, I got into the older, cooler crowd, and they listened to hip-hop. I was desperately trying to fit in.

I think its important to keep an element of fear about yourself because it makes you appreciate the jobs.

I tend to spiral out of control if I'm not working. I get panicked and don't know what to do with myself.

Where I am now, you're very much at everybody else's mercy. You have no control over your career in a lot of ways. It's just important to know what your own goals are, because that's empowering.

Australians, we've got a very healthy sense of humor in us. God forbid we take ourselves too seriously so it's kind of a cultural trait.

I'm ambitious but I'm not particularly competitive. I'll try to get roles, as I think it's healthy to go for things, but... I think there's too much competition between women already. It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.

There's a lot of intensity when you're on a set. And then it just goes away and no one's giving you attention or flooding you with compliments.

I'm generally a people-pleaser so I get high anxiety from any sort of confrontation.

I'm the youngest of four, and I'm always the clown - making the jokes, wanting attention.

Anything can happen. Anything happens all the time.

As you get older, you just lose that confidence and narcissism you have in your twenties. You realize you have less time on the planet, and you become cynical and less confident.

Comedy has to have momentum in order for it to keep moving along.

I love TV as a viewer.

My parents were so relaxed by the time I was growing up that I got away with a lot more.

All forms of contact are good: letters, parcels, e-mails - I've been trying to get a Webcam for my computer, but I'm such a Luddite.

As an artist I just think comedic actors are really underrated.

Being an actor is mostly about rejection and being out of work. It was a fast lesson in all of that stuff.

I definitely had creative people around me, but my parents were more just very encouraging.

I have to rein myself in sometimes.

I often do very serious roles, but really I am a big clown.

I see myself more as a character actress than a celebrity.

I see some of the clothes from the '90s is back in fashion. That really freaks me out because that's when I grew up.

I think diversity for most actors is such a blessing. It's something definitely I've strived for.

I was very, very shy when I was little. Acting lets you access all those different parts of yourself to make the character authentic.

I've already started saying that I'm 30 when I'm still 29. That way, I'm already there.

I've always thought of myself as more of a character actress. I've tried to do different things, but I've always been under the radar and that's how I like it. I've been really blessed to work this long and I just hope I continue to get better and better and better and better.

Making a film is an incredibly technical undertaking.

My parents weren't in the arts, but we grew up in Balmain, which at that time was an artistic, bohemian suburb of Sydney. It's a lot more gentrified now. It was very working class, pubs on every corner because it's right by the water so a lot of the guys on the ships and the boats used to go and drink there. It's very posh now.

People would make fun of me and throw things at me and whatever teenagers do.

The British are so funny.

The writing is so great on TV now; it's such a pleasure to watch.

TV is a completely different discipline, which I think I am still learning about. You just have to learn how to work fast and pace yourself.

TV is very much a producer and writer or creator-driven machine in the States. And I'm the kind of actor that needs to be pushed and have someone on my case a little bit, so I suffer from that.

With a comedy, it's so important to see it with an audience and an audience who really wants to be there and is enthusiastic, otherwise it can be quite a traumatizing experience.