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I was only 24 then, but 18 of those 24 years had been dedicated to wanting to get to that moment.

I was 36, and I had decided to quit acting because it was so disappointing.

What everyone loved about '24' is still there - the clock, the tick, the lean-in factor, the pacing.

I have been a huge nerd to my kids. I haven't done the cool movies that they like. With '24,' I gained a lot of respect. '24' is now, it's hip, it's their generation.

Basically, as soon as I saw that there was a role available on '24,' I jumped at it, and then when I sat down and talked to them, it seemed to get more interesting and more fun.

The really cool challenge of '24' was learning on camera how to be a dramatic actress. The biggest difficulty was the industry side of things. I was very lucky that I had Joel Surnow, one of the creators of '24,' in my corner. Early on, the Fox executives couldn't believe that I was on the show.

After 30 years in the theater, I'm used to having a great amount of control over what I do. But with '24', you place your character's life in the writers' hands, and you have no idea what's going to happen until you're sent the next pages.

I was 24 when I was offered 'Doomwatch.' There was an option for a further series, and I turned it down. It is a wonderfully glorious thing to be unknowingly arrogant.