WHAT I KNOW NOW

THE AWARDWINNING SCREEN LEGEND HAS HER OWN SET OF RULES WHEN IT COMES TO NAVIGATING LIFE BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE HOLLYWOOD SPOTLIGHT

- JACK SMART

Five decades into her stellar career, Glenn Close can spot a red flag a mile away when deciding what scripts appeal to her: "You should be very wary if it's not all on the page, and they say, 'We'll fix it,'" says the 77-year-old actress with a perfectly timed eye roll.

But beyond that Close adores a challenge. The Connecticut native earned Oscar nominations for her first three major filmsThe World According to Garp, The Big Chill and The Natural, and she hasn't slowed down since. She's won three awards each at the Emmys, Tonys and Golden Globes, and she's also the woman with the most Academy Award nominations for acting (eight!) but, confoundingly, no wins.

Not that such a statistic bothers her. It's when talking of inhabiting a tricky character "from scratch," not about receiving accolades, that Close lights up almost as much as when her daughter Annie Starke (whose dad is her ex, producer John Starke), or dog Pippi come up in conversation. Now starring in the new horror film The Deliverance and hard at work filming the latest Knives Out sequel in London-Close shares some of the lessons she's learned along the way.

Acting isn't everything.

This profession will eat you up if that's all you care about. An actress, Jeanette Landis, told me on the first job I had on Broadway, you should never compare your career to anyone else's. Oh my God, that is so hard, but it's so true. You have to have incredible resilience, certainly in the beginning, because you will have disappointment after disappointment, rejection after rejection. You have to have a crazy engine that keeps you going. You should also have interests and curiosities beyond what you do. A great education keeps you curious, and that's really, really important for an actor.

Nurture your inner child.