Lindsay Lohan is back and better than ever.
The iconic early-2000s star is making her return to acting with the upcoming Netflix rom-com Falling for Christmas this November, after a three-year hiatus. Lohan, who got her start as a child actor in The Parent Trap, told Cosmopolitan that she learned the importance of taking well-timed career breaks after "working constantly for a large chunk of [her] childhood."
"You can take breaks, but you just have to know when the time is right. Because it's also good to keep the pace going. You become a family when you're on a set, and then when the project wraps, it just stops. So it's like a culture shock—you don't know what to do with yourself. It's good to keep your mind active," Lohan said.
The Mean Girls star says that the longevity of her career has also informed how she approaches her acting.
"It's always evolving. It comes very naturally to me to play a role, especially in a romantic comedy, so it doesn't always feel like work. But when you really look at the character and how much more you can give people onscreen through the character's eyes, there's so much to play with and change," said the actress, now 36, who has been acting since she was five years old.
"With this movie [Falling for Christmas], I specifically wanted to do more physical comedy because I missed doing that. And I was like, "We're here, why not? I'm willing to do it." I think the bigger you go in those situations, the better it is. You can't be afraid of it. And then for the next one [Irish Wish, filming this fall], I wanted to play a different kind of character, more nerdy."
Lohan Shares What's Next: I Want to 'Do It Again But Ten Times Better'
Although Irish Wish is still filming, Lohan says that she and her vision board are already looking toward the future. When discussing "big moments" from her lengthy career, the star told Cosmopolitan that she views her past accomplishments from an almost outside perspective, sharing that she wants to do it all again but ten times better.
"The first time I hosted Saturday Night Live. That was a big moment for me. And then when I hosted the MTV Movie Awards, those were both really big moments for me. But I think when you're in it, it doesn't hit you. And I never thought I would say this, but as you get older in life, you look back on those things and you're like, Did I really do that? Oh my gosh, I really did all that stuff, which is a really cool feeling in the end. And I'm the kind of person that now wants to do it again but ten times better," she said.
And although the star has some ideas on how to achieve that, some plans remain under wraps (at least for now).
"Different awards. SNL again, obviously. And roles that I haven't been able to play. I haven't done an action film. I really want to do something like that. There are other things I can't say. They're on my vision board."
Read Lohan's full interview here.