Marcia Gay Harden Quotes & Sayings

Doing theater is such a specifically energetic and almost acrobatic work. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

You want people - I want people to relate to me as a character. I want them to go, 'That could have been me,' or, 'I know someone like that.' — Marcia Gay Harden

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

The trophy wife must be in her 20s to earn the title 'trophy wife.' — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

It's very hypocritical to constantly say, 'We want to keep our kids close,' then send them home with so much homework that family time becomes nonexistent. — Marcia Gay Harden

Sometimes in film and television, I don't have the opportunity to play roles that really stretch and challenge me. — Marcia Gay Harden

It's hard to balance work and family. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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

Harlem is a very family-oriented neighborhood, and it always has been. — Marcia Gay Harden

I've never really liked horror films. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

Back in the days of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis, beauty wasn't the be-all and end-all it is today. — Marcia Gay Harden

They tell us in magazines and in ads, 'Oh, you should look like this, you should wear this, you should look like this movie star, or you're nothing.' And so we're all totally unsatisfied. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

I think irrationality is one of the scariest things in the world. — Marcia Gay Harden

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!' — Marcia Gay Harden

In Hollywood, a lot of acting feels like grandstanding. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

I think families should vacation together, and cruising is a wonderful option. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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.' — Marcia Gay Harden

I've had an amazing career and amazing blessings. But I'm an everyday person, and I have lived an everyday life, and I drive an everyday car. — Marcia Gay Harden

I don't think any extremism is rational. — Marcia Gay Harden

I love it when ugliness is beautiful. I love character flaws. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

We can be incredibly disconnected in this day and age with computers and cell phones. — Marcia Gay Harden

Reading is a joy for my kids, and to swing in a hammock on a lazy summer day reading a good book just goes with summer. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

Working on 'King Of Texas' was a life experience for me. — Marcia Gay Harden

I'm not a big fan of mediocre. — Marcia Gay Harden

It's important that kids learn, but I really don't like all the testing, testing, testing. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

You've got to understand what makes the character human. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

I always wanted to be in movies. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

All those days of waiting on tables until I could get a role on Broadway, all that time going to school taking lessons, and all those years of being a nobody following a dream-and now here it is. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

I think in terms of family, in terms of relationships, in terms of work, competition to be the favorite, to be the noticed, to be the one - I don't know if it exists for all personalities, but I know for sure it did with me. — Marcia Gay Harden

I was always the child who wore her emotions on her sleeve. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

In theater, you have a rehearsal period and you know just who to be. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

I'm always a little starstruck anyway. So to work with a movie star, which is Brad, I was excited about that; to work with a movie legend, which is Tony, I wouldn't have passed that up. Just to get to watch him and watch how he works. — Marcia Gay Harden

People have such false perceptions of how stardom really works. — Marcia Gay Harden

I relate to people and roles that are about the arc of human experience, things that everyday people deal with every day. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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

I love physical comedy. I adore comedy of any kind. — Marcia Gay Harden

You know what I miss? I miss myself, that time to just do things for myself. — Marcia Gay Harden

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

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

I loved playing Anne Bancroft, because she was so wonderfully arch. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

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. — Marcia Gay Harden

Isn't it nice not to have to compartmentalize yourself? — Marcia Gay Harden