Carrie Coon

I always liked church. I was one of those kids who was desperate for the statue of Mary to talk to me, which is a very egotistical approach to your faith. I just wanted somebody to pay attention to me.

As actors, we have to say yes to everything for a really long time. You say 'Yes' to anything you can get.

I have this idea of myself as this quiet, observant, thoughtful child, which my parents roundly contradict. They claim that I was loud and bossy and dancing all the time.

My husband and I are huge bibliophiles. He's always reading 'The New York Times Book Review' and then ordering 20 books online.

I rarely get recognized, and whenever I do, it has to do with 'The Leftovers' because it came into someone's life at a particularly important time for them - if they were dealing with grief or loss or whatever tragedy - and they just caught it. And there is no rhyme or reason to the kind of person it is.

Literature has always been the greatest fuel for my imagination.

I really have the good fortune that the actors who work with me on 'The Leftovers' are thoughtful, hard working, open people and generous people.

Inevitably, when directors work with me on a set, they say, 'This isn't what I was expecting. I thought you were going to be very serious.' But I like to stay loose and have a good time and not take myself too seriously. I think, otherwise, you get in your own way.