Amy Adams' Advice To Women Is All You'll Ever Need

"I, even more so, want to be involved in portraying strong women and independent women."

John Phillips / Getty Images / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Amy Adams is a five-time Academy Award-nominated actress and can give some damn good life advice. We sat down with the woman who ~does it all~ and asked her to answer YOUR burning questions.

1. Do you intentionally choose roles that tell stories of female empowerment, and is it important for you to tell those stories as a mother? —valeriehorror

BuzzFeed

AA: Yeah, I like to represent a lot of different types of women, and I think there is power in a lot of different roles. I’ve played women who have quiet strength and women who are wounded. But I think there’s an opportunity to communicate the experience of being a female in our country and in our past that I take a lot of pride in, and being a mom has really enriched that experience — and moving forward I, even more so, want to be involved in portraying strong women and independent women.

2. Being in the public eye seems amazing, but also challenging. How do you block out negativity and continue to be the awesome woman you that you are? —morganscragg

BuzzFeed

AA: I don’t participate in a lot of social media, so that helps because I’m not engaged in those conversations — I can really focus on the things that are important to me that are in front of me in the moment. And never read the comments section! Never. NEVER read the comments section.

3. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? —Chelsea Martinez, Facebook

BuzzFeed

AA: It’s less about advice than it is about people who have set really good examples for me. Watching the way that Meryl Streep dealt with having a very successful career and being a really great mom. The way she talked about her kids, it helped me sort of make decisions on how I wanted to move forward. I usually learn from the examples that people set.

4. How do you keep your hair so healthy and shiny? —Kelsey Shea, Facebook

BuzzFeed

AA: You seriously have to have 10 bad hair days to have one good one. I don’t wash my hair as often as other people do. There are a lot of ponytails and not a lot of blow-drying. Don’t wash it every day — every other day if you can. I wear it in a ponytail and bun a lot so it allows it to just not get fussed with, I think.

5. As a mother with a successful career, what advice can you give women who want to both have children and be career-driven? —Mfly632

BuzzFeed

Amy Adams: I think that having work/life balance can be really tricky and it’s not necessarily easy. I think that it’s recognizing that you can have it all, just not all at the same time. You have to be really forgiving of yourself. I always say that if you’re juggling a lot of balls, you have to be okay with knowing that you’re going to drop some. You can’t keep the juggle going — you just have to be flexible and patient with yourself.

6. I’m in my late twenties and am feeling a lot of pressure from my family about getting married and having kids. Did you ever experience that, and if so, how did you deal? —Jessica Marshall, Facebook

BuzzFeed

AA: I felt a societal pressure to get married — at that point I had already met who is now my husband. We didn’t get married until very recently actually. In my late twenties and early thirties, my focus was my career and I was lucky enough to have somebody who supported that. Just build yourself into the person that you envision yourself to be and you’ll find the right partner. Just let them know that you’re building the self that you envision that will attract the right person to you, and hope that they’ll support that.

7. What is one beauty tip, trick, or secret that you’d share with every woman if you could? —Joanna Thompson, Facebook

BuzzFeed

AA: Eye drops! Not every day, but if you’re going to get pictures taken, eye drops. Yeah, they can fake a wake, I call it. That’s my thing.

8. I use social media and am starting to feel like it’s consuming me. I’m always looking at other people’s adventures and comparing my life to theirs. Do you have any thoughts on social media as a whole? —Lauren Gerde, Facebook

BuzzFeed

AA: I don’t have any [accounts], but I will admit my husband has some, and I’ll get on and I see the vacations people are taking and it’s really easy to get caught in sort of what other people are experiencing. It seems naïve to advise to get off, but honestly get off social media. If you’re feeling like it’s overwhelming, take a break from it and start recognizing and seeing the blessings in your everyday life, because sometimes it’s the small stuff that’s makes a big life, and not the big stuff that makes a great life.

9. Did you ever have moments in your acting career where you felt unsure about what you were doing and wanted to quit? If you did, how did you overcome those moments of self-doubt to continue? —jzbubblegum127

BuzzFeed

AA: You know, I definitely had moments where I didn’t have a lot of confidence and had a lot of self-doubt. It was supported by getting fired a couple times, different projects not turning out the way I wanted them to, or certain people treating me a certain way. All sorts of those things can really come together and sort of undermine your self-esteem. I had a really great community of friends and peers that kept me on track. I think that is the key in getting through any sort of hard time is surrounding yourself with really quality people. People show you who they are, and you should believe them.

Catch Amy in her new movie Arrival in theaters Friday, Nov. 11!

Paramount