When I get ready for a high-profile event, it's really about sleep and making sure I'm eating something healthy, and then it's always important to stretch to stay limber. No matter what, you want to feel as loose as possible, because it's easy to get full of excitement or tension with all that's going on.

Darby Stanchfield

Categorized in : You Feel Sleep Eating

I'm a very private person, so I didn't like this idea of tweeting about me. And then I realized, 'Oh, this is actually a brilliant device in terms of interacting with the fans'. It's a lovely way to just get back, to thank the fans for watching the show. And to live tweet is kind of like getting the rewards of doing live theatre.

Darby Stanchfield

live-theatre lovely ideas

Every time there's a cut in the action, we joke and dance around, there's show tunes and fart noises.

Darby Stanchfield

cutting tunes noise

From a personal standpoint, playing someone judged negatively by her friends is not difficult.

Darby Stanchfield

standpoint difficult playing-someone

What I miss most about living in Alaska is the fishing.

Darby Stanchfield

alaska fishing missing

The biggest scandal I was ever involved in was - in high school, at a basketball game, I shot and scored for the other team.

Darby Stanchfield

team basketball school

I am a bit in love with a new designer George Hobeika; I have worn him a couple of times on the carpet. Ralph Lauren is another one I really have fun with.

Darby Stanchfield

designer couple fun

My favorite cast member of 'Scandal' is Josh Malina.

Darby Stanchfield

members scandal my-favorite

During the pilot we were all trying to figure out what ‘Scandal’ is and our characters, and there’s this thing called ‘Scandal pace,’ in which we speak really fast, we weren’t in the same worlds in the pilot but we were just kind of checking in with each other about, ‘How are you doing?’ ‘What’s your process?’ and ‘Is it feeling a little fast?’.

Darby Stanchfield

entertainment

I get homesick for snow and for winter and for seasons and, really, for weather patterns. But L.A. has some of the best weather, so who can complain when it's 80 degrees and sunny?

Darby Stanchfield

best winter weather snow

My dishes tend to have a very carefree style: what's ripe at the farmers market or what's in my fridge, even if I'm cleaning out my fridge. It tends to be a very improvisational style. I major in salads, but a loose definition of salad; it can have a real robust skirt steak on top of it off the grill or quinoa or buckwheat or sprouted almond.

Darby Stanchfield

farmers cleaning style real

I'm such a good sleeper that I can have tea any time of day, and I will have no problem taking a nap. I'm a professional napper.

Darby Stanchfield

day good tea time

I never shy away from herbs!

Darby Stanchfield

away never herbs shy

I like to be very consistent with workouts and getting a good amount of sleep. I've really been enjoying Pilates lately. It's actually really tough to fit in my schedule, but if I can get in a workout three times a week while we're shooting, that feels right. Any more seems to deplete my energy.

Darby Stanchfield

good tough energy sleep

When I'm grateful for all the blessings, it puts away all the stress about things not in my control. Things like long hours, aging, pollution, scandals... it helps me create perspective by just focusing on being grateful. Take that moment twice a day with yourself.

Darby Stanchfield

day me moment grateful

Over at the Olivia Pope & Associates set, we're like middle school children. Every time there's a cut in the action, we joke and dance around; there's show tunes and fart noises.

Darby Stanchfield

dance time children school

I was born in Kodiak, and I was raised in a place called Dutch Harbor out on the Aleutian Islands. There's a show called the 'Deadliest Catch' on the Discovery Channel. And they film it on Dutch Harbor where I grew up.

Darby Stanchfield

i-was-born place born discovery

As a kid, we had one television channel and a sad little roller rink. And there was not much else to do. So I used my imagination all of the time growing up. That's the main way I played. When we moved and I went to high school, I did my first play, and I was completely addicted to theatre. It felt like home; it felt natural.

Darby Stanchfield

sad imagination home time

When I moved to Los Angeles, I was straight out of grad school, and I didn't have a single credit to my name. I knew one person in town - another actor whose name is John Billingsley. I just had to audition and audition and audition. I was plugging away for 15 years. So I earned my stripes!

Darby Stanchfield

name person single school

I'm like one of the tallest ones on 'Scandal.' If I'm wearing my four-inch Abby Whelan high heels, I hover over everybody. I literally have a lower pair of high heels that I wear when I do one of the scenes with the guys.

Darby Stanchfield

wear high like high-heels

When I met Oprah, the first thing I thought was, 'She is the most amazing hugger ever.'

Darby Stanchfield

she amazing first thought