In 1990, I was in 'The Three Sisters' at the Royal Court and won the Clarence Derwent award for my supporting role as Natasha - the prize was �100. I could have paid the gas bill, but I ended up buying a porcelain and silver Bavarian coffee set in an antiques shop in Penzance.

I got my first big paycheck for 'My Best Friend's Wedding.' This was in the days when you actually did get paid to have a supporting role. It just doesn't happen like that anymore, but this was in the '90s. It was the golden age!

My approach to the work is the same, whether I had the lead or a supporting role. I consider myself a character actor in the true sense of the word. Unless I'm doing my autobiography, I'm playing a character.

I don't care about being a star. I can do a supporting role; I don't have to be a lead.

When I was young, I dreamt of being a starlet in Hollywood. But there comes a point in every African American's life when you realize the limitations, that you could only play maids or some little supporting role. Even Lena Horne couldn't get good parts.

I don't believe in terminologies like 'lead role' or 'supporting role' or 'cameo role,' etc.

Though I played a supporting role in 'Lootera,' I am mostly getting offers for leads.

I actually have a movie that I was a supporting role in that I'm really proud of called 'Sun Dogs.'

A lot of people like to justify women's supporting role in sports media by saying, 'Well, they've never played the game, so they just aren't qualified to speak about it.'

It's nice to go and be a guest on a television sitcom. It pays well; it's easy because generally it's a supporting role, so you go, you do two or three things, you're in touch with people there. They're widely popular, so they're seen by many people.

I was never a pretty girl, so I wasn't the one to get the boy. I used to cast myself as a good sport. Sometimes I wonder if I do that too much with roles I play, because if I'm absolutely truthful, I quite like being the best friend, or the supporting role, and actually I ought to gear-change and make myself the leading role.

I think when you're doing a lead role, there is so much more pressure. If you fail, not only do you fail, but everybody else fails, too. As opposed to when it's a supporting role and it's only you that sucked.

In 'The Grandmaster,' I had a supporting role, but my character in 'The Crossing' is much more central to the plot.

My whole life, not just in my professional career but in community theater, I played the supporting role.

I became interested in educating people in the variety of ways in which women can express their emotion. Which is much easier to do in a large role than in a supporting role to a male protagonist. In general, the women in a supporting role to a male protagonist - cry a lot.

If you're playing a lead, you're shaping the movie. When you're playing a supporting role, you've got only a moment to make it count.

I grew up in Evanston and lived in Chicago for a long time, in Old Town and Wrigleyville. I did three films when I was in high school. The first was 'Class,' with Rob Lowe. I had a supporting role in that.

I've read crime fiction all my life. A thing that's bothered me about crime fiction is that it's generally about one or two people, but there's not much about society. I want to get away from that particular pattern: a lead, a supporting role and backdrop characters.

I don't think I've been in a supporting role in any of the plays I've done, ever.

I think that the jazzy approach that I have is based on the way that I hear music and in the way I play a supporting role to the other people in the band.