Marcia Gay Harden Quotes

I'm just a pack mule. I've played leads and I've played character roles. Any actress in Hollywood will tell you as your age climbs, the leads thin.

If you think someone committed a crime, you should turn them in to whomever you perceive authority to be.

Everyone thinks offers are always pouring in. Offers have never poured in. Never. I was auditioning a lot, but I didn't get the jobs.

I'm fortunate to have a team of people who help me. I've got an assistant, an office manager, a nanny - she's not full-time, but she's there when I need her.

I played Laura Bush in a Tony Kushner piece, and afterward, I think my phones got tapped.

I love being a mother; I hate being a housewife - the cooking, the laundry - because it takes away time I could be with my kids.

As a mother, I love the Leapster handheld because it really delivers on educating children while they play. My daughter enjoys it because it's fun and touches on all of the activities she is interested in - videos, books and art.

I always wanted to be in movies.

There are certainly a billion, ker-trillion girls out there more attractive than I am.

In Hollywood, a lot of acting feels like grandstanding.

I've been so lucky to work with some great, great writers: Tony Kushner and Yasmina Reza.

I love it when ugliness is beautiful. I love character flaws.

In 2005, I had the great honor of playing Shailene Woodley's mother in 'Felicity: An American Girl Adventure.' I was immediately impressed by her work ethic, both on and off set.

The only thing that seemed to me I could do in such a way that no one else could was acting. I thought, I can be a doctor, but there's going to be someone else who is just as good or better. I can be a lawyer, which I still sometimes think I would love to be, but I think there's someone who can do it just as good or better.

I celebrated [my 50th birthday] by throwing a big bowl on the pottery wheel, then going for a water ski at the lake on our property in the Catskills, and that night, skinny-dipping under the stars. Just being free and joyful. And that's how I [felt] about turning 50.

In theater, you have a rehearsal period and you know just who to be.

I was always the child who wore her emotions on her sleeve.

My schools were quite diverse - those who serve their country come from every race and religion - and so the military schools I attended were a wonderful melting pot.

Everybody says 'Good Morning' in Harlem because it's true! And that's lovely.

After I won the Oscar for 'Pollock,' some newspaper printed, 'She should get a million-dollar bump.' My sisters would write me, 'You're gonna get this million-dollar bump!'

Working on 'King Of Texas' was a life experience for me.

If you are not in the red playroom of pain and pleasure, ... shooting the movie is much like doing any other movie.

You've got to understand what makes the character human.

In my opinion, Zac Efron is a total hero. Him seeking help encourages other people with addictive issues to seek help. It's brave of him.

You want to know how I'm feeling? Just look at me, and I'll tell you how I'm feeling. Nothing is hidden. I'm all out there. I cry like a baby, I get upset, I stamp my feet. I'm not stoic.

Whether you win or not, the night the Oscars are over, the curtain goes down and you go back to the grind. Period.

I have a theory that there's almost this primal viewpoint on women in the business, that once you're beyond childbearing age, you are perceived as nonthreatening, nonsexual, noncastable. Sure, I already knew it before I got into it. I just didn't know I'd end up making my living from low-budget, independent films.

Harlem is a very family-oriented neighborhood, and it always has been.

Having a dad in the service was helpful. I was forever meeting new kids, going to new schools, moving to new neighborhoods. I was encouraged when I attended the American School in Germany.

You have to make sure that you and your child are connecting, and it does help when they are looking directly into your eyes.

I just never wanted to be too much in the background. I always wanted to be a part of things.

I had a science teacher in middle school who inspired me ... simply because she acknowledged me and made me feel that what I had to offer was worthy.

Isn't it nice not to have to compartmentalize yourself?

I think to visualize failure as you're starting off is really a bad thing to do.

A New York casting director, who shall remain nameless, once said to me, 'Marcia, you have what I call the flaring-nostril look, and until you get something done about it, you will never, ever work.'

Sometimes I ride my bike to see the kids after a matinee and then ride back to do the show. That's the hard part, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

You can manipulate the viewer in film. With theater, what you see is what you get.

So far, the thing I seem to have been rewarded for in film is leaving myself behind and transforming myself into other people.

People have such false perceptions of how stardom really works.

I was always an exhibitionist. I liked it when everyone laughed. But I didn't do plays in high school. I was too nervous.

In any film, there are 10 male roles for 1 female role, especially in the action films. They're heavy with the guys.

Shakespeare set a lot of his dramas in a historical perspective or war perspective, or he would study what was going on at that time.

The people who stood out in the Sandy Hook incident, the heroes, were the normal, ordinary people who went to save those children.

You're over there in the corner either thinking about the dead dog or whatever, you're bringing up your personal life and you need the space, and then somebody throws you a joke. Especially if it's an emotional scene, you don't want the joke.

I don't think any extremism is rational.

Oh, I just love being a character actress. You have a lot of fun, and not only that, you save tons on cosmetic surgery because you never have to have liposuction.

I loved playing Anne Bancroft, because she was so wonderfully arch.

Anybody who is really walking with the Lord is embracing the foibles and the beauties and the differences of humanity, regardless of race, color, creed, economic stature and sexual proclivity, whatever. You embrace the beauty of humanity and not be exacting and belittling about the differences.

In my kids' school, the married family is an anomaly ... which I do think is sad. I do believe in marriage.

In the theater, it's about taking time in a musical segment, a pause in a musical way and then moving on.

My work often takes me away from my family for long periods of time, so I've really come to appreciate the time I do spend with them.

I examine other people's characteristics, so when I'm playing characters, I don't always have to make them me; I can transform into others.

With any tween, you have issues, from what they are going to wear to school, to how do you get them to speak politely, to how regularly they lose their contact lenses.