Hollywood Mom Battles Terrorists

Annette Bening stars in the new political thriller The Siege, playing a CIA operative who battles terrorism on American soil. Bening tells CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen that her character is not a typical cookie-cutter action moll.

Says the actress, "When I looked at the script, I immediately thought, 'Wow! This is a woman!' First of all, she's alone. She's got secrets. She's got ambiguities. She's so imperfect. I think that's why I loved her and found her so human."

If Bening is not splashed all over movie screens, it's for a good reason. She has three children with husband Warren Beatty, and she puts her family ahead of her career.

"I think that it takes time to have children. It takes time to be pregnant and to give birth, and to take care of babies. And so, that's time that any woman must take," Bening, 40, says. "It's the most important thing to do in life."

"One thing I'm learning about being in the public eyeÂ…is that you have to learn how to surrender a certain amount of your own control about how you're perceivedÂ… If people are going to create that kind of talk, there's not a lot I can do."

Born in Topeka, Kansas, Bening was reared in San Diego, where she launched a stage career with local theater groups. She moved to New York in 1986 and, just a year later, was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the play Coastal Disturbances.

Her movie credits include The American President (1995), Love Affair (1994), Regarding Henry (1991), Postcards From the Edge (1990), and Valmont (1989). She was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in The Grifters (1990).

She and Beatty first met at a pizza parlor to discuss plans for Bugsy (1991), which was their first movie together. They also co-starred in Love Affair.