It used to be that Katie Holmes lived in danger of being known for the rest of her career as the girl who played Joey Potter on Dawson’s Creek. Being stuck with that as her identity is almost funny, since Holmes would not even show up in person to audition for the role. She sent in a video tape made in her basement.

“I don’t know if I have moved past [Dawson’s Creek], but I don’t really care,” Holmes recently told Elle Canada. “I had a ball doing it, and it’s really nice to be a part of something that did affect people. And it created a lot of opportunities for all of us. You can’t really ask for much more than that.”

Of course, Holmes has another chapter of her life that might be harder to shake than the Joey Potter chapter. She was Mrs. Tom Cruise, Scientology wife, the girl he jumped on Oprah’s couch for. And the girl who America cheered for when she finally snuck away with her daughter while Cruise was away on a film shoot.

Does Holmes ever regret any of these chapters in her life?

“I’ve always been adventurous,” she says. “I liked who I was at 20, and I think that you just have to go along for the ride with everything. I have a lot to be grateful for, so I do count my blessings every day. I really do.”

“I just keep going,” she says. “That’s what I do: I don’t really think about it; I kind of just keep going.”

Nowadays, Holmes is working like she used to, lining up one film project after another while she can.

“It’s a very hard business,” she says. “You have to work hard every day and hope for the best. Sometimes offers are flying in, and sometimes they’re not. There aren’t as many movies being made, period, so the challenge is to create projects for yourself. But that’s fun too. You have to make your own opportunities.

“I think ambition is a wonderful thing, but I see a lot of people who might be a little bit more ambitious [than me]; I just do what I do and go home. I have a balanced life. I like having different experiences, and I like being inspired.”

Creating projects for herself has led Holmes to try her hand at directing. Her project is All We Had, based on the book by Annie Weatherwax.

“I’m scared,” Holmes confessed about directing, “but I’m going to give it a try,”

Holmes said she is always “looking for stories that really show women in the best light,”

“I have three sisters and a ton of aunts and a lot of friends, so I’m constantly amazed and inspired by all kinds of women and the dedication it takes to have a career and be a mother,” she says. “I’m also amazed by the community of women it takes for one person to really succeed. I think that that’s really important to remember.”