Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly, who has been working for about three decades, says she feels "happy in my own life and I feel like somehow that's really liberating".
Ever since her debut in 1984 release "Once Upon a Time in America", Connelly has come a long way. With about 40 films to her credit and an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards in her kitty, the 43-year-old enjoys working more now and said: "I love what I do."
"It is a different experience, I don't know if it's because of that for me, or just getting older. Those might not be the things, but you worry less about things that occupied your time before. I think it's easier as you get older to let certain things that aren't as important fall away," she said during an interview in Los Angeles.
"It's also just a matter of experience. The more films I have where I think I did something wrong or I handled something wrong, I can look back and say, 'Well maybe I won't do XYZ.' I feel much more settled personally. I am happy in my own life and I feel like somehow that's really liberating. I feel engaged in my work in a deeper and less interrupted way," she said.
Connelly, who won an Oscar for her supporting role in Ron Howard's 2001 film "A Beautiful Mind", will be seen in director Darren Aronofsky's "Noah". It also features Russell Crowe, who played the protagonist in "A Beautiful Mind".
She says that she is "a fan of both of their work and are both very talented".
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"'Requiem for A Dream' was pretty early on in my career and it was an opportunity to play a very complex character, the circumstances were very different from my own life, and that opportunity was very exciting for me.
"And 'A Beautiful Mind' was also a wonderful opportunity - it was a great part. I remember reading the script and thinking, 'if only I could get a part like this..' and I was lucky enough to get it and so from the beginning it was clear that it was going to be an important experience for me," said the actress, who featured in Aronofsky's "Requiem for A Dream" in 2000.
The mother-of-three, who plays Naameh in the film, says the circumstances have no relation with her personal life, but since she is a mom she is able to connect well.
"Our circumstances bear no relation to one another, of course. So, I'm not trying to do an 'as if' as it was me in that circumstance. That said, it's inevitable because being a mother is a huge part of what I do and who I am and everything is forged with that love that I have for my children and Naameh, in that regard, is the same," she said.
She describes her character as "fiercely protective of her family".
"So, I can draw on the love that I have and the fear of loss I have at a very gut level - and that's where the emotions come from," she said.
Presented by Paramount Pictures, the film will be released on March 28 by Viacom18 Motion Pictures in India.