Mary Steenburgen Quotes

My family didn’t have money to travel, so reading was how I knew about the world. It made me hungry to have more experiences than just what I could possibly experience in Arkansas.

For me, acting has often been solitary. You’re all together, and then boom, you‘re gone.

I don’t want to go to just watch big huge summer movies that everybody predicts is going to be the big huge summer movie and that are all the sort of blow-them-up movies or whatever you want to call them. I think there are a lot of other people out there, too, that want an alternative.

I helped found Artists for New South Africa, but it used to be called Artists for Free South Africa. Alfre Woodard and a bunch of us started this.

There’s a certain arrogance to an actor who will look at a script and feel like, because the words are simple, maybe they can paraphrase it and make it better.

Writing is essentially an internal process.

Will Forte is such a nice, extraordinarily creative human being. Utterly fearless.

A period piece is a great opportunity for an actress. I love acting because I love to pretend, and when you’re doing a period piece, then even the time you’re in is pretend, so there’s that much more to play with.

I didn’t work for a couple of years after the Oscar because everybody kept offering me bad versions of Lynda Dummar.

I have hundreds of songs.

I’m kind of a laugh junkie. It’s what I appreciate in life, because life is rich and sometimes it’s hard, and I really, really love to laugh and gravitate towards people who make me laugh.

It’s usually, my people speak to your people and then they speak around each other and trade calls for weeks.

It’s very easy to approach a character like that – a so-called strong woman who overcomes the odds – and give a one-note performance, playing that strength alone. Strength is only one thing a person has.

I used to think I was going to die wise, and now, the one wisdom I have is I know very little.

There’s no strategy involved in my career decisions. I do whatever roles make my heart beat faster.

I feel like I’m attracted to characters who have one foot firmly planted on the ground. And their heads up in the clouds somewhere. Practical dreamers. They try to impress you that they’ve got this whole thing figured out, but there’s more going on inside their heads than you might imagine.

Christopher Lloyd was actually the first person – or certainly one of the first few – who ever spoke to me on film.

I know this is kind of corny, but we thought about renewing our vows again because I think my mom would really love it if we did that in Arkansas, where I came from.

I wasn’t making any money, but I didn’t feel unsuccessful because of that. You can do that in New York but not in Hollywood. In Hollywood, it is how much money you make.

Ultimately, there are only two emotions: love and fear. And pretty much anything else you want to name can be broken down into one of those.

‘Step Brothers‘ was like a reward for going through my whole career and somehow surviving.

I think, as an actor, you’re constantly confronted with your fear of sticking your neck out.

Let me put it this way. There is more to acting than just acting like somebody. I like to act in such a way that other people get some notion of what it’s like to be somebody.

I was this person with this weird last name from New York that no one had ever heard of. But my screen test I guess, according to him, was the best. So I got the part, which was incredible.

We tell our kids to try for what they want. We cheer them on. But at some point, we stop doing this for ourselves. We shouldn’t be so quick to close doors.

In my business, guys may age, but it’s not even a question they’re valued. But women my age are supposed to disappear.

Hey, it’s a miracle to have a career in Hollywood. But it doesn’t begin to sum me up.

Anything to do with the South resonates with me, because I’m Southern.

What a mother I am. I can’t even make popcorn.

I’ve had a great time doing it – being able to say yes to a couple of amazing shows.

That’s my name. I know it’s difficult, and it’s not pretty, but it’s my name.

Do I feel like I still need to prove myself? Absolutely. And I want to feel that way, and I like that.

Acting was far from my world. I rarely saw a play. I never met a real actress; they seemed unreal.

Anytime I had a date, it was at the Sadie Hawkins Day dance.

I did ‘Philadelphia‘ and ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?’ at the same time. It’s kind of wonderful to do it that way, because you get very hyper-focused.

If there’s an addiction in the Clinton family, it’s to problem solving.

I studied with Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. I was in the last class to study with him before he had his larynx removed, so I actually remember the sound of his voice. He was an incredible teacher.

At one point, I kind of looked in the mirror and said, ‘You know, you’re a mom. You’re a wife. People count on you; you can’t go off the deep end into this kind of crazy musical swirl.’

I actually believed if I behaved myself and if I made straight A’s and if I was good enough, I could save my dad‘s life. And every single time he had a heart attack, I knew what I had done that caused it.

Every child in America fantasizes about running wild in the White House for a few minutes.

I think that we need to look hard at our beliefs and be responsible about how we speak out.

There’s something inside of me that just connects or doesn’t connect with the project.

I’d already made the decision before I’d even read it-just because it was John Sayles. Then when I read it, the themes were actually themes that have been a big part of my life.

It was a few days later I came out to Hollywood for a screen test, and so did a lot of other people. So, I really didn’t think I would get it. I was definitely the one that was least likely to get it, because everyone else was an already established star.

There’s just such a premium on hurrying, and the camera is the be all and end all, and the actors had better hurry up and get it right and get it done.

As an actor, you’re always looking for, what do I get to do? It’s not just what do I say, but what do I do, too.