Lin Shaye

I think the best advice I ever got about acting was from my dad, which was, 'If they don't buy the fish on the first toss, throw it back in the wagon and go to the second house.' Which is like an old Jewish fishmongers' story about how you become a successful fish monger.

I'm not a blood and guts person. I remember seeing 'House of Wax' as a teenager in 3D. This was years ago, the original 'House of Wax', and that was scary enough for me that I thought I'd never see another one.

I've had a couple of odd experiences - unexplainable anxiety that came my way through a belief in something... I mean, it sounds cryptic, but... anything for me that turns myself against myself, I stay away from.

When I have a creative insight, there is a high. I think back in the day, I made music as much as I did because it made me feel so good. I think you could argue that there is a creative addiction - but, you know, the healthy kind.

I usually feel like the role comes to you to sort of illuminate some piece of where you are in your life. I feel like I myself am a single woman and I'm childless - by choice - at this point, and I don't know what will happen.

As I have discovered by examining my past, I started out as a child. Coincidentally, so did my brother. My mother did not put all her eggs in one basket, so to speak: she gave me a younger brother named Russell, who taught me what was meant by 'survival of the fittest.'