A biography for Mary Steenburgenhasn’t been written yet.
“If you want to grow up and do what I do for a living - be an actress - my advice to you is read as much as you can.”
“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 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.”
“I've had battles with writers who live in L.A. and were writing southern characters, because they felt like if they wrote 'Sugar' and 'Honey' at the end of every sentence, that would make it southern.”
“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.”
“The accordion came from just having a desire to play music. Somehow, I have slowly taught myself.”
“I used to think I was going to die wise, and now, the one wisdom I have is I know very little.”
“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 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.”
“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.”
“As an actress, my best tools are my emotions and expressions.”
“There's a certain freedom that comes when people don't expect you to be sexy.”
“I think, as an actor, you're constantly confronted with your fear of sticking your neck out.”
“I wrote my first song when I was 54 years old.”
“If there's an addiction in the Clinton family, it's to problem solving.”
“I'm not saying it's easy, and it's definitely harder for women. Because there is definitely a double standard about gorgeous older men, and it's different for older women.”
“Anytime I had a date, it was at the Sadie Hawkins Day dance.”
“I don't know if I've ever read a movie that's as strange and unpredictable and hilarious and wonderful as the stuff we're doing on 'The Last Man on Earth.' It's jaw-dropping every week when I get a script, because it goes to such strange places.”
“I'm a chameleon when it comes to languages.”
“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.”