Patricia Clarkson

“Parts that are desexed, matronly - to just put me in a couple of scenes and have me be the older, you know, dead character, is not gonna fly with me.”

“When I was younger, of course I had people act inappropriately to me. I've had certain directors yell at me. But I didn't stand for it, and I didn't let it go far enough for it to be in any way abusive to me.”

“I always try to approach character first and foremost viscerally.”

“I just have a thing for writers. Maybe it because I'm just so not a writer.”

“I'm really a director's actor. I rely heavily on a director.”

“You're always close and you never get that big romantic lead.”

“I have to watch the news or my day is not complete.”

“Being married and having a child was not something I wanted, and I knew that at a very young age. I tend to be more solitary, and I'm truly a free spirit.”

“But no, had I been successful in my 20s I would have been just fine. But it is nice to defy the odds.”

“It's never easy with characters in these dark and grave circumstances but that's my job.”

“I think it would be hard to go the distance in this business without a sense of humor.”

“I love writers. All of my best friends are writers.”

“The odds are not in your favor the older you get, especially if you're a woman in this business.”

“I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies.”

“I think it's always harder in a film to convey intimacy.”

“Why are comedic parts for women the exception, not the rule?”

“New Orleans. Born and raised. I lived there until I was 19.”

“And now oddly I'm getting sexier parts than I've ever gotten.”

“The odds of having films made which star women... Everyone still references one movie: 'Bridesmaids!'”

“If my gravy train stops at SAG, honey, it's been a great ride.”