Quotes from Rooney Mara

There were certainly things I was scared to do, but I never thought I wasn't up for the challenge.

As a 12-year-old, I think everything seems scary.

Now I literally roll out of bed and put on whatever is there. I have really enjoyed being a boy this last year.

I didn't even have pierced ears. They put four holes in each ear, and, weirdly, that hurt the most.

I can understand wanting to be invisible and mistrusting people and wanting to understand everything before you engage with the world.

I try to eat food that hasn't been washed in ammonia and then packaged in the shape of breaded dinosaurs filled with cheese - even though those are very tasty. I like to eat food that can actually make it through the 20-plus feet of my small intestine.

I guess I don't really measure myself by what others think. So even though I have gotten to work with some amazing directors, and you might perceive me to be that girl, that isn't how I see myself. So if one day nobody wants to work with me, it won't be this massive surprise.

Just because the character listens to an iPod and wears black nail polish, she's goth. That was just a misused word.

I've always had a respect for psychiatry as a profession.

Beaches and romantic comedies are not my thing. I'm a workaholic.

I grew up in a little cul-de-sac in the suburbs and went to public school. I went to Costco on the weekends.

I never do anything for the camera. It's my job to pretend the camera's not there. I'm never moving for the camera.

Daniel Day-Lewis - he's a man, obviously, but I really admire his work.

I am very slow to warm. I've always been sort of a loner. I didn't play team sports. I am better one-on-one than in big groups

Marion Cotillard is one of my favorite actresses.

If there is one thing about my family that I do identify with, it is that everyone is extremely hardworking. Also, the people whom I grew up with all did things they really loved. And I think that's an important lesson.

I've always been a very sensitive person, and people tell me that if I'm in a certain mood, and I go into a room, my mood will permeate the room. It's not on purpose - I'd rather be invisible in those moments - but I'm really bad at faking how I feel.

In order to have understanding, you need forgiveness, compassion, and empathy.

I am very slow to warm. I've always been sort of a loner. I didn't play team sports. I am better one-on-one than in big groups.

People think that I grew up going to Barneys for my back-to-school clothes. I went to the Gap. We lived in a nice house on a cul-de-sac, but it wasn't a mansion. We didn't have a butler or a maid.

I need a lot of alone time as a human. And especially on a movie set when you're around people all day long. So it's actually kind of nice to go home to a hotel and be alone and unwind.

I feel like I've been guarded since I was about three years old. I don't know why. I come from such a huge family, so maybe it's that. Maybe it comes from going to Christmas and having 30 people all in your face at once. I've always been a bit like, 'Aaargh!'

It's really helpful when you do something you don't like. You won't make that mistake again. It's like dating a bunch of people who are wrong for you - you learn so much more about yourself that way.

Because I'm highly empathetic, it's easy for me to put myself in the character's shoes. It's, you know, finding the truth of the moment.