The Panic Room star talks parenting, Hollywood and role models.

Since her TV debut at three years old, Jodie Foster has steadily built a reputation as one of Hollywood's most powerful - and private - women. When reporters clamour for details about her personal life, the two-time Oscar winner gently, but very firmly, declines to reply.

When our sister site Women.com sat down to talk with Foster, they didn't press for information about the exact parentage of her son, Charles. But when the topic turned to her tot, this single mother's eyes lit up. She happily discussed the challenges and joys of raising a child, and even broke into song when describing her son's favourite tunes.

Foster also spoke in depth about her professional life, from how she chooses projects to who she sees as role models. Read on for more…

How has your professional life changed since becoming a mum?
JF: I've always been picky, but now I'm even pickier because he is my priority and my focus, and I want to spend as much time with him. So unless I feel really passionate and really strongly about a project, I just...I don't want to get in the car to go.

Now that you're a mum, how do you balance everything?
JF: Well, I think the adage is true. You can have everything, but you just can't do everything well. And I think the first thing to suffer is your work. I think you just have to embrace that chaos and know that the creative quality to your work is probably higher because you have a child. But the amount of hours, the focus, just can't possibly be there. So you learn to be efficient with your time.

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about yourself since becoming a mum?
JF: I guess I thought I was one of these people that has very serious dos and don'ts about how people are supposed to act and rules about children and their behaviour. And now I realise that he can just work me. I just fall for him.

Are you thinking of putting him on camera? Do you make home videos?
JF: I do some home videos, but I have no desire to put him on camera in any other way.

As a child actor turned director and producer, you've grown up in the industry. How do you think it'll be different for your son?
JF: It's going to be a really weird thing to grow up having a famous parent. I just don't know what you can do about that except try to explain it to him when he comes home crying. I think it is much harder to be the child of a famous actor than to be a child actor, and so I hope that I have all the sensitivity and patience to deal with that.

How has it changed your day-to-day life?
JF: It changes how you schedule your time and it changes your focus. I mean, I don't know if it's a hormonal problem, but if I'm on the telephone and he's in the room, I don't remember a word anyone said.

Do you feel that you face any barriers in Hollywood today?
JF: Our barriers are much more subtle, psychological barriers now. They're all of the wounds that we carry from our young days into the workplace, and we spend our lives trying to make sense of them. In terms of Hollywood, there are fewer roles, wonderful roles, for women. But in my case, I'm lucky enough to find one every two years, and that's all I need in order to be able to feel passionate about something.

Is there a difference in how you choose films that you want to act in and films you want to direct?
JF: I act characters that are different from myself, that teach me something and that inspire me to be brave in ways that I'm not. I direct movies about who I am - about my life, the people I know, the songs I listen to, the tone that my life has taken - so that I can make sense of my own life and communicate it and put it up there. So there are very opposite reasons why I do both.

In 1991, you were quoted as saying, 'I think what we need to do is to find out how to make women leaders'. Do you see yourself as a leader?
JF: I don't see myself personally as a leader, but I assume a leadership position in my company [Egg Pictures]; certainly as a director. I find that your leadership style has everything to do with your personality. I'm somebody that likes to talk and likes to collaborate. A lot of directors don't. A lot of directors like to just tell you what to do. But I really like to hear other people's responses and hear their instincts and what they're having trouble with, and then try to incorporate my vision into that.

Who are your role models as leaders?
JF: I suppose it's true that because I came from a business that was all men when I was growing up, that men were my mentors. They were the ones who taught me the gentlemanly art of being in the film business - you know, you don't steal people's ideas, you always give people credit, you always say please and thank you and send thank-you notes.

Do you have a protege or someone that you feel the same way about?
JF: I have a partner in my company, Meg LeFauve, who is a producer at Egg Pictures and who runs my company. She is just so creative and has such great taste. I can't say she's my protege because we're the same age, but I learn from her and she learns from me, and I think we just make a great team.

What else can we be doing to promote leadership in women?
JF: Well, I have this really outdated philosophy about success in a corporate structure, and you're going to think I'm really romantic and a fool, but here it goes. I think that if you are moral and you're right and you have the right ethics, that eventually somewhere down the line you're going to end up being successful.

Do you live your life that way as well?
JF: Yeah, I really do. I mean, I think I try to be the best person I can. Lord knows, I make big mistakes. I make big mistakes all the time. But I try to be as honest and direct as I can.

What do you feel is the greatest accomplishment of your career?
JF: My greatest accomplishment, I think, was being able to direct my first movie [Little Man Tate]. I was very lucky to be involved with producers who knew me and saw me in some ways as their prodigal daughter and gave me the opportunity when they didn't know what I would have done with it. They had no idea what was coming... The best movie that I think I've made [as an actress] is Taxi Driver. Even though I wasn't in a lot of the film, it's one of those movies from the '70s that I think people will remember in 40 and 50 and 60 years. It's just incredible to be involved in a film that's really part of the canon.

How do you manage your free time when you're on location?
JF: Well, when I'm on location I have no free time. I pretty much come home from work and I eat something and I go to bed. And we usually work a six-day week, so on Sunday I do a lot of sleeping, and I watch TV and do some crossword puzzles. That's pretty much the only thing I have time to do when I'm on location.