Quotes from Christina Hendricks

I had been on several shows that were meant to be the big ones, that would go on forever, and they didn't.

I just thought I would work in a hair salon and do community theater.

I have classic and feminine taste. I'm definitely drawn to vintage-inspired and ladylike things. I like an accentuated waist, and a strong shoulder works well with my figure.

We have defined these characters - people always expect to see me in a pencil skirt. When they see me out of one - much like when they see Jon Hamm's hair when it isn't slick - they say, 'Wait a minute, you're all 2010!'

My husband says, 'What Joan walk? You've always walked that way!'

It's a tough business. To my parents or to their friends, I was not a success, but to me I was a huge success. I was having a blast. I was working on shows I loved, I was working with actors I loved, and I was making a living as an actor. And I loved every second of it.

It is so exciting to get a phone call saying you're going to be working on a Disney film.

When I first started dating my husband, I had this weird fascination with the circus and clowns and old carnival things and sideshow freaks and all that. About a month after we started dating, he bought me this amazing black-and-white photo book on the circus in the 1930s, and I started sobbing.

The way we dress on 'Mad Men' is so associated with old photographs, with people's parents and grandparents.

I think calling me 'full-figured' is just rude.

I started doing community theatre as a way to make friends, and that was when I caught the acting bug.

When the attention started to be about my figure, I was surprised, because it wasn't something I was focused on.

I love anything that's sort of surreal and with fantasy.

Oftentimes when I do a project I do get influenced by the wardrobe. I certainly learned a lot from 'Mad Men' and from Janie (Bryant) in particular. She's just so fabulous.

I was the nerdy one. I always played those kind of characters until Mad Men.

My mother never said to lose weight. Diets were never a big deal. My mom was always beautiful and voluptuous and curvy, and I always thought she was gorgeous.

I'm just looking for material that excites me more than any specific genre. It just needs to be good.

I've always been someone who really watches other people, human behavior. To watch it and be able to express it through your version has always been really exciting to me.

I tend to take things personally. But I can only take so much, and then I jump back. I have strong survival skills.

Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy, I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous! I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, 'Oh, I look like a woman.' And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it.

Sexiness is about being an individual and having conviction about what that is.

One of my favourite messages about 'The Pirate Fairy' is that the story is about appreciating your own talents.

Anytime someone talks about your figure constantly, you get nervous; you get really self-conscious.

Everyone assumes we're always going to have a cocktail and a cigarette in hand. Fans expect us all to be dressed up all the time. They always say to me, 'You look so young. You don't seem as tall!'