Dawn Steel

The men I worked for didn't look at me as having any gender at all. They regarded me more as a workhorse. ”

There's no training for the business, no credentials necessary to enter... It's all about entrepreneurs, innate street intelligence, and instincts. It's a business which encourages people with dreams. That's the essence of Hollywood. ”

That's my proudest accomplishment: that I don't feel like a grown-up. ”

Having money is better than not having it, but I've been poor, and I've survived. ”

I felt more comfortable in TV than in the film world where the players were more erudite and intellectual. ”

I thought it was great being the only girl in the room. I loved the attention. After I got used to it, I didn't want to be the only girl in the room. I had no one to talk to. ”

The first war movie I ever saw was 'Platoon,' and I was eight months pregnant. So my husband, producer Charles Roven, wasn't sure I'd make it. ”

It hurt me deeply, this reputation as tough, hard, mean. ”

I just love the idea of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, whether it's the success of 'Cool Runnings,' which is the success of four guys from Jamaica who had never seen snow, or whether it's my success, just as a human being. ”

I think women's relationships with other women are very complicated and depend on their relationships with their mothers. Mine was fraught with problems. So I didn't necessarily trust women for a long time. ”