Quotes from Joan Cusack

Bulgaria is fascinating. Because it had been a Communist country until the mid-80s, so it had just recently transitioned. And there were still the police towers on the street corners, where they look down - they were still there, although no one was in them.

I love Chicago. It's such a great town, and it's got great culture and great history, and it's not as extreme as LA or New York, and it's just- it's hard for me for work, because I don't live and work in the same place and that's tough. But I'm- I love it.

I think that everything's hard now anyways, so you might as well do stuff that you love and believe in.

I want my kids to experience passion. I want them to see that I have things I feel passionate about because it is such a great feeling to really love something.

I can't imagine being a single parent or a single parent that doesn't have a lot of money. That's a big, huge impact on your life and your dynamic and everything - I mean, that's huge. It affects how much you have a break from just concentrating on just one other person in your life. It becomes so myopic that way, and more intense, probably.

Skating is big in Chicago. There's a lot of hockey; a lot of the boys play hockey. And figure skating is big.

As a parent, you have to figure out how to shape your kid's character. You want to have human beings who learn about good character. You have to be able to see your child with clarity, see the good side and the bad side of them, and work on the bad side and make them better so they fulfill their potential.

It's nice to be able to work; I'd love to be able to do another TV show I could do in Chicago so I could live and work in the same place. It's hard being a parent and being in a good marriage, and it all takes a lot of work, but if you're not there you can't do any of it.

In L.A., it's easy to get caught up in what you look like or how much money you have, and those aren't values I want my kids to adopt.

It was fun; you know, at this point in my life it's like, I want to do stuff that's meaningful.

A lot of women get out of the business because it's so not family-friendly. And so women that could be in there making good women-roles don't do it, 'cause they're smart and get out.

I mean, the country was founded on free enterprise. There's good things about it, and there's obviously bad things about it.

I take parenting incredibly seriously. I want to be there for my kids and help them navigate the world, and develop skills, emotional intelligence, to enjoy life, and I'm lucky to be able to do that and have two healthy, normal boys.

A relationship is hard in and of itself. And having kids is really hard work, but I think it's really meaningful, as is a relationship. But they all take work.

I think it's fun to have work that you can relate to, that you can feel like is meaningful.

The fact of the matter is, if you have to have a process, I think, to figure out how to make everything work together, you just don't get that. But maybe there's a way to do it.

Don't live vicariously through your kids or try to shape them into who you wanted to be, like the popular kid or an athlete. Children should be given the opportunity to be themselves.

My first job now is as a mother, everything else is secondary. My kids understand that I am an actress, and they are always so surprised to hear my voice on a cartoon character, or see my face on a video box. If it ever gets to be too much though, the career and the kids, I will simply set the career aside.

Because I don't think it's very healthy to hold people to idealized views. I think that's a certain stage in life, something kids do. You have to go through that idealistic phase with your parents, but at a certain point, you need to see people as just people.

I play- it's kind of like a slice-of-life, LA women in their forties, playing forty kind of what's their friendship like, and what's their life like and so I just play one of the four friends.

I was never the 'babe,' so I knew I'd never get those big roles. I'd always be the best friend or the quirky sidekick.

My dad was a very funny man - he's the one who taught me life would be awfully hard without humor! I'm sure his Irish wit in some way influenced my decision to become an actress.