Felicity Huffman Has Arrived

Lesley Stahl Profiles The 'Desperate Housewives' Star

(CBS) 
Huffman and Macy have worked together often on TV, in the movies and on the stage.

Are they method actors?

"I think so. I think, yes. Yeah, absolutely. We are," says Macy.

"We are?" Huffman asks.

"Yeah," Macy replies.

"I didn't know that. … You gotta tell me this stuff," Huffman says.

As for her acting in "Transamerica": there’s some irony in the fact that body image and the question of what makes us who we are are themes at the heart of the film.

"The first image that you see Felicity in this film is shocking because she is butt ugly," jokes Macy.

In her younger years, Felicity had her own issues with her body. She had an eating disorder, suffering from bulimia.

What was going on?

"Just sort of what's going on with a lot of women and girls that, you know, just can't be thin enough," Huffman says. "Can't be thin enough. Can't be thin enough. Hate my body, hate my body, hate my body. You know?"

But Huffman says she got therapy and "worked it out."

But for her, the movie experience had its darker side too, as she began to relate more and more to her character.

"I think she's excruciatingly self-conscious. I think it's hard for her to wake up in her own skin," says Huffman.

How did she connect with that?

"Oh, come on, I think everyone can connect with that," says Huffman.

"No," Stahl replies.

"Really? You don't think everyone has pain in their lives?" Huffman asks.

"I think everyone has the moments. … But no, I think maybe you connected for some reason, in a deeper way," Stahl says.

"I did," says Huffman. "I mean, I know what it's like to, I know what it’s like to wake up and be in agony in your own skin. I do, yeah."

Huffman says she doesn't know why. "It's just the way I am, I don't know."

Huffman has two little girls, but gives a surprising answer when asked if motherhood is the best experience in her life.

"No, no, and I resent that question," Huffman says. "Because I think it puts women in an untenable position, because unless I say to you, 'Oh, Lesley, it's the best thing I've ever done with my whole life,' I'm considered a bad mother. And just when I said no you, you went back."

Does she think she is a good mother?

"I don't know if I'm a good mother," Huffman says.

"You're not there enough or you're not patient enough or …" Stahl says.

"I'm there enough. I don't know if I'm patient enough, though, you know, I don't know if I'm teaching them the right things," says Huffman.

To which her TV character Lynette and millions of real mothers would say: join the club. But as more and more film festival awards pile up for her work in "Transamerica," win or lose the Oscar, she’s about to join a more exclusive club of actors who’ve made it big.

"The fact that the movie’s getting this much attention, the fact that you’re sitting here talking to me, I’m on 60 Minutes, weird, um … is a win," Huffman says with a chuckle.