Quotes from Phyllis Smith

I just wanted Sadness to be true, to come from a real place. I tried to work from the inside out, going from my gut all the time. I didn't over-analyze it. I just did it.

I've had an experience that... I don't know the right label to put to it, if it was an angel or Jesus or what. Nobody knows anything for sure about that, but I know that I had an encounter, and I know that things exist beyond this realm, most definitely. I'm grounded in that.

I once prayed when struggling financially and worried how I was going to be able to assist my parents in their latter years living thousands of miles away, to help me win the lottery or something. And I did win the lottery, just in a different and better way.

In my heart, my first desire was to be a dancer. I always wanted to dance and I danced from the time I was 7 till I was well into my 30s.

You have to understand that when you're a voice actor on an animated film, you're really just a tiny little piece of this huge process. And when you finally get to see the finished product and see all of the wonderful work that the animators & the designers & the writers did to make your character stand out, it's just so touching, so humbling.

I have always been more of a joyous person than a sad person. But I was fortunate to have a mom and dad where my mom could look at my face and know what was going on and was able to get me to talk and draw it out. As a result, I didn't have to hide an emotion. I didn't have to worry about her telling me, 'That's silly.'

It was only after I'd had some injuries that I basically retired from the performing side of show business and then began working in casting. I did that for 19 years or so before a friend of mine decided to cast me as Phyllis Lapin-Vance on 'The Office.'

I'm not accomplished enough to over-analyze something, because I don't have the background as far as people who write and know how to break down a character or story and stuff. I mostly go by gut instincts.

We're not whole people if we're just one emotion. On any given day, you can be happy, sad, angry, and so on... As you mature, you just learn to deal with each one of those emotions.

Hopefully, 'Inside Out' will have the longevity that those older movies have, and many years down the line, people will be able to watch it and find some kinship with it.

When I hurt my knee, I knew it was time to retire from dancing, and I needed a job just to pay the bills, and I ended up as a receptionist for about three-four years.

I had one young man tell me he wished I was his mom. Another young woman told me that every time she watched 'The Office,' I reminded her of her mother, who had just passed away a year ago, and that every time she saw me she felt as if she had a piece of her mom still with her.

Everybody wants to shine a little bit, even a wallflower.

When I was little, my mom would dress me up and take me downtown on the Carondelet bus, which in itself was exciting. We would go to see Santa Claus at Famous-Barr. The decorations were so pretty. The line was long, but that just gave me more time to enjoy Santa's Toyland. I loved every minute of it.

I know I'm not supposed to talk about God and stuff, but my spiritual life is very strong, and I really feel that a big part of whatever success I'm having is due to that as well.

Even before 'The OA,' I was a very spiritual person.

If you look at the character of Sadness, they really nailed my eyebrows.

My family in St. Louis brings me to my roots.

When I was in casting, we would bring somebody in, have them read their lines, maybe give them a few pointers, and hire them, and then once they go to the set and you have a director who's directing them, that performance may not be anywhere near what you had in the audition, either good or bad.

Just go for it. Don't be afraid of trying new things. You have absolutely no idea what's going to present itself to you. Don't be frightened. Just buckle down and do whatever your heart desires.

I know how difficult it is to get one job, much less an entirely new career. I'm very blessed and grateful. It's like I'm a normal person with an extraordinary journey.

I'm just a normal person, believe me.

I didn't want Sadness to be just one note.

We are made up of multiple emotions. And it would be unnatural to completely eliminate even one or two or three of those. It's impossible. You'd become a robot if the emotions weren't there.