Quotes from Alison Sudol

If you're gonna steal from somebody, why not Shakespeare?

Singing in front of people, I learned a lot more about fragility and strength.

Los Angeles has got its own distinct feel, and it's very contrary to the music that I write and the pictures I see in my head: no evergreens, no fog, no rain days.

I was in a commercial when I was three. My godfather was a director and a producer of commercials. He took me in along with his kids and I couldn't remember my lines. I giggled my way through the commercial and they kept it.

Stories have always been incredibly comforting and can help illuminate things that are hard to understand other wise.

Women are often written as one thing - the ingenue or the vamp - but real women are many things.

I actually wanted to be an architect when I was a kid, but I did a solid geometry course where we had to build a geodesic dome out of toothpicks, and mine came out looking like an alien space station. I threw it against a wall and gave up.

The song 'Almost Lover' is very important to me, because when I wrote it, I threw everything away. That kind of set the bar as a writer, as a singer, as a person.

My heart gets tight and it's almost like my soul gets congested if I'm not making music.

I feel like for me my happiest moments are tinged with the awareness that there's sadness on the flipside of the coin.

Because I grew up around the reality and heartbreak of acting, I didn't want to have anything to do with it.

I mean, I knew that one day I'd do something writing-oriented as soon as I started writing. But when I started singing, I was determined to make those two work together, so I just worked at it until I started making stuff that sounded like music.

With music, every decision you make is a reflection on who you are - I'll obsess over the color palette for a record and the promo materials. With acting, it's not just your ideas. You're one part of a working machine.

I just love the holidays so much.

Singing has an impact on the human body.

Even when my every inclination is to be otherwise, I don't want to live my life on the dark side of things. Sometimes that takes a little bit of effort, and when that's the case music is the way that I totally make sense of things.

My architectural education is way, way incomplete, but if you're in a beautifully designed space, it can change the way you see and the way you feel. The same way great movies and great music can immerse you, so can a space.

Whether it's a photograph or a piece of clothing, a leather bag or a film, I tend to gravitate towards simple, beautifully made, quietly lovely things. They make me happy.

I'm, like, the most insane Wes Anderson fan - his films are pretty much my inner landscapes. I just love him to pieces.

How many women have been in a mental institution because they've been called crazy when they're just not allowed to be honest or be who they are?

I did a couple auditions, failed miserably, was about to give up, and booked 'Transparent.'

I do consider myself an actress now. I think 'Dig' and 'Transparent' have given me the confidence.

I don't like to yell.

I would love to show young girls that you can be complex, and that you don't have to part ways with your femininity in order to be taken seriously. But it does take more strength if you're going to be feminine, because people are going to underestimate you. I struggled with that when I was growing up.