McGowan: "I use language to pierce the brain. If I spoke like everybody else spoke, it would just dull everything."

McGowan: "I like strong, strong women who don't go down without a fight. I like iconic roles. They don't come around very often, so I have to wait for them. Obviously I'm not the typical blonde who stands by the side, while the man has all the fun."

McGowan: "I realized there are no lobbyists for critical thinking, and I realized there are no lobbyists for bravery."

McGowan: "My focus isn't Hollywood; my focus is using Hollywood as an example. Because what happens here does happen everywhere. It's just a really concentrated and tense version here."

McGowan: "I don't care what people say! Please get that straight. I really don't. Because I can't."

McGowan: "What's wrong with being angry? There's a lot of stuff to be angry about. If you're angry, anger covers pain. I don't know if you can truly deal with pain."

McGowan: "I never considered myself a celebrity. I hate that word. It's tawdry."

McGowan: "Women's rights are women's rights. One of the things that woke me up was equal pay. I started thinking about it: Who is the leader of women? Take me to your leader. And there were no leaders."

McGowan: "We performers sacrifice so much for your entertainment."

McGowan: "It's nice being able to speak for myself. Every interview I did for so many years and every time I was in front of the camera, pre-Twitter, there was no way for me to speak for myself. Every interview started with, 'What was it like to work for this man?'"

McGowan: "I say, 'Be brave. Do it even if your ankles shake, because they will.'"

McGowan: "I have great luck. I'm used to people dying and going away. Not used to it exactly - but I expect it. Like, whenever people go off on a trip, I save their phone messages because I think they might die."

McGowan: "I've seen many actors go awry by making the wrong choices early on."

McGowan: "They're definitely having their moment now because they know how to work the system, and I know I have to be that way, too, in order to succeed. But it's never been more frustrating for me."

McGowan: "I love the absurd - kind of absurdist comedy, absurd things in life."

McGowan: "What I do with my work is, I give women permission to be angry. Because that's our right. Because it's an emotion. Because it's been taken away from us. Because we've been silenced."

McGowan: "I really believe in being egalitarian."

McGowan: "I'm not interested in worrying in if I make people uncomfortable. I'm interested in stopping women and children dying - that's what I'm interested in."

McGowan: "I think gay marriage should be the national law."

McGowan: "I was with somebody else at the time, who I left - one, because I didn't really want to be with that person, and two, because I felt I'd had so much tragedy I needed to go off, go crazy, and maybe live on the outside for a while."