Although Shue sounds remarkably serene, she admits it has been a long and, at times, difficult journey.
"There were times when I was not as wise, when setbacks would make me feel emotional," she says. "I used to sit there and think, 'I'm better than this, I can do better, why has this happened to me?' But life isn't like that. It's about continuing the road you're on and blessing the journey."
That sounds suspiciously like therapy-speak. She laughs. "I know the English attitude is to say, 'suck it up, don't tell everyone your problems', but honestly - therapy really helped me. In what way? I no longer overthink everything. As long as a project involves people I respect or there's something that will be fun and challenging about the experience, then I'm good.
"I know the hit-and-miss part of my career is firmly established, so it's not an issue if I have a few misses. It doesn't affect me now as much as it used to."
She admits she's made plenty of mistakes. "I tried to be picky but I don't know I did such a great job about choosing," she says with a rueful smile - but adds that her career was never as important as her three children with documentary-maker Davis Guggenheim. "Whenever I get down, Davis always reminds me that our family has always been my major choice and that you have to accept you're not going to be as successful as you might have been when that's your focus," she says. "I look at my son, who's three years off going to college, and I'm glad I spent so much time with him because right now, if I'd done that movie that sucked and wasn't with him when he was growing up, I'd be regretting it."
She originally signed on to play assistant night-shift supervisor Julie Finlay - aka CSI's "Blood Queen" - because "my youngest daughter is now at school" and the show "doesn't try to pretend to be something it's not. It was created specifically and authentically as a procedural."
The search for authenticity is something of a theme. Shue grew up with three brothers in a wealthy family in suburban New Jersey and started acting in commercials as a teenager. After dropping out of Harvard (she returned in 1997, completing a political science degree in 2000), she established herself as a sunny, warm-hearted presence in 80s hits The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting and Cocktail. She then confounded expectations as a beaten-down prostitute in 1995's Leaving Las Vegas, receiving an Oscar nomination for the role. It should have marked the moment her career became stratospheric, but instead she chose a quieter path.
"I think I was always a bit unnerved by the idea of being an actress," she says. "I don't think I ever embraced it fully. In retrospect, I probably hid from it. Yet where I hid [with her family] was the most important part of my life. If I'd done otherwise, I'd have regretted it."
That's not to say she's entirely without regrets. "Nobody sets out to make a mediocre film, so you can't really second-guess, but yeah - I would definitely make some different choices were I making them now," she admits. Such as? Shue laughs, too wily to name names.
"I think I was seduced by the pressure to try and do something that would help my career. I felt the pressure to be in big films, I would never feel that now," she says of the period immediately post-Leaving Las Vegas, when she took roles in notable flops such as the big-budget The Saint remake.
No longer concerned about how she's perceived, she doesn't worry about whether she made the right moves. "I used to look at Julianne Moore, for example, and think, 'oh, I would have loved to play that part' but now I don't really lust after other people's careers," she says. "I think maybe when you've had a Leaving Las Vegas you learn not to be jealous of other people's success. I can't have my life and their career."
Instead, she appears at peace with what she has and hasn't achieved.
"I feel like when I was younger, I kept myself back in so many ways because I wanted everyone to like me," she says. "Now I know any career is a long haul, there are always ups and downs."
What's the best thing about it? "I'm no longer afraid."
Who: Elisabeth Shue
What: Plays "Blood Queen" Julie Finlay in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, TV3, Saturday, 8.30pm
Key roles: The Karate Kid (1984); Cocktail (1988); Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
- TimeOut / The Independent