I kept turning down roles because I knew I just wasn't ready for them.

Dinah Manoff

Categorized in : Just Because Down Ready

I loved being a troublemaker. At Santa Monica High, I would smoke on campus, go barefoot, anything.

loved go santa smoke

I'm a slob. I live in sweatpants and workout clothes.

slob live clothes workout

I work out. I eat great. I'm in shape.

shape eat great work

My mother used to ask me to stay home from school and keep her company. I'd fake I was sick, and she'd fake believing me.

me mother home school

I sure don't miss going out on auditions!

sure miss going out

I started acting as a way to support myself.

myself support acting way

I'm clean and sober.

I'd grown up in a production company, but discovering the importance of the work, I realized I had something to bring here.

here something company work

I remember unbelievable tension in our home. There were lots of meetings, lots of worries. I remember my father told me I had to be careful of what I said on the phone because it was tapped. And I remember how his friends adored and revered him.

me friends home father

I am my father's daughter: I have his language, his expressions.

i-am daughter language father

I wanted to direct more than I wanted to act. And I found I couldn't do everything.

act than more everything

I'm an entertainer: I want to make people laugh, cry. I want to move them.

laugh cry want people

I don't understand people who want to leave a good job. To me, without being terribly judgmental, those are people who haven't gone through their stint of being out of work for long periods of time.

good me work time

Once you have been hot and cold, you get real appreciative when you got a place to go every day with decent material, a paycheck to come in, and nice people to work with.

day you work people

I found out my limit. I'm not a singer and a dancer.

limit singer out found

Definitely, I have a New York personality.

definitely new personality new-york

I've always dated hunks.

Mother was so good that I was defeated even before I started to be an actress. I thought I could never make it unless I spent years in the Actors Studios, went on the blacklist and lived in New York, as she did.

new thought good mother

I think that from 15 to, like, 18, I went through a very rough time. Something basically everyone goes through in those years - not knowing what you're going to do.

think you not-knowing time

I happen to think, really, that I'm good at what I do.

really happen good think