I think romance is a tool comedy is a tool and drama is a tool. I really just want to tell stories that challenge the viewer move people make you laugh perhaps push an idea about being open-minded but never settle on a genre or an opinion. I hate genre. I like movies that are original in their approach.

By going to the movies and because of other things too going to college making a wide variety of friends moving around traveling I became a lot more open-minded than the heritage I was born into might have suggested.

When I read the pilot 'for Married with Children' it just reminded me of my Uncle Joe... just a self-deprecating kind of guy. He'd come home from work and the wife would maybe say 'I ran over the dog this morning in the driveway'. And he would say 'Fine what's for dinner?

I was watching TV at age 9 or 10 and my mom said that I came from the front room and I told her that I want to act. And she said if you want to do this at 18 then you can. It was a very simple story yet I do not even remember the conversation that I had with my mother. Until she reminded me of the story many years later.

My mom has a good way of engaging me in a conversation about the choices I make listening being objective and open-minded and respecting those choices so long as they don't put me in danger.

My mom has always said that the one thing she wishes she had done differently is have a job. She felt like the single-mindedness made her a little nuts sometimes and she could have used an outlet for herself when we were little.

I was brought up by a single mom in a poor town in Arkansas and while some aspects of small-town life were really positive - like the fact that everyone there is really sweet and hospitable - there is also this close-minded mentality and that naturally made me want to rebel.

Honestly being a doctor could make you more close minded than regular people.

I don't want to make films that give you the answer. If there is a message to my films - and I hope there isn't - it's to be open-minded.

For years my wedding ring has done its job. It has led me not into temptation. It has reminded my husband numerous times at parties that it's time to go home. It has been a source of relief to a dinner companion. It has been a status symbol in the maternity ward.