She lives in West Hollywood now. She starts her day at a coffeehouse/ newsstand. She is addicted to magazines, a habit that costs her $70 to $100 a month. Her favorites are Sky, Face, British Vogue, and British Elle.

She spends the rest of the day running errands, checking in with her publicist, auditioning. On the way home, she stops at the supermarket. She is not a health nut. She loves salt-and-vinegar potato chips, ice-cream sandwiches, and pasta with cheese. Sometimes, after she has unpacked the groceries and finished her magazines, she takes a hike.

She likes to go out on the town with friends, but she does not dance up a storm. ("I'm a really, really terrible dancer. Really poor hand-eye coordination and bad motor skills.")

Her boyfriend is a graphic artist from England. They met on a blind date eleven months ago. ("He hates hoopla, he hates superficiality--but he's going to go to the Oscars with me.")

Actress Meg Tilly is her older sister. Dorothy Parker is her primary role model. ("I guess that sounds terrible, that my role model was an acerbic alcoholic.") Parker impresses her as a woman who lived as she wanted to in a man's world.

She is known for playing floozies. She has appeared on Hill Street Blues and It's Gary Shandling's Show, and in movies like The Fabulous Baker Boys and The Getaway. Her nomination is for her performance as a dim-witted showgirl and mobster's girlfriend, Olive Neal, in Bullets Over Broadway.

She was in Vancouver shooting a new film when Oscar called. ("I was in shock, all alone in a hotel room. So I thought I would call my boyfriend--but my fingers were numb and I kept hitting the wrong numbers.")

She is full of praise for Bullets' writer-director, Woody Allen. ("He's really not at all funny. He's really quiet and circumspect, and sort of just blends into the background. But I used to go on Johnny Carson's show a lot, and I think Woody has the same sort of tremendous presence--sort of like a north wind that's just there.")

She was once in a fist-fight. A woman came up to her on the sidewalk and threw coffee at her face. ("It hit me in the shoulder and burned me.") They began to slug it out. ("I never knew I had that sort of viciousness in me.")

She says: "When you're in Hollywood, I think, metaphorically, people are always throwing coffee in your face--and you never know why they do it." She won't talk about her age or ethnicity. ("I've experienced so much typecasting--people are always trying to pigeonhole you.")

Her biggest fear is that she'll die on the set while doing a really bad movie. ("And they'll try to finish the movie without me!") She wears a big T-shirt to bed. She is a deep sleeper.