Mary Steenburgen

“The accordion came from just having a desire to play music. Somehow, I have slowly taught myself.”

“I'm a late bloomer.”

“My son, he has a film group, a bunch of film nerds that sit around and screen movies, and when they had Mary Steenburgen Night, the two movies they screened were 'Melvin And Howard' and 'Cli...”

“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 remember when I was growing up and watching southern people depicted on television, I thought, 'Well, based on what I'm seeing, I guess I'm supposed to be stupid and racist.' It's still, s...”

“I know that's why I became an actress. In my dream world, I could get mad and scream and yell, and if somebody died, they got up again. In real life, I didn't dare try it.”

“You've never seen anything until you've seen David Mamet be an Edwardian lady. He always conveys what he means, but he's so... masculine.”

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

“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 got my SAG card on my first movie, 'Goin' South,' with Jack Nicholson in 1978.”

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

“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.”

“The part in 'Philadelphia' where I represent the law firm that's firing Tom Hanks, that was a hard part for me because I lost one of my best friends to AIDS, and it was hard for me to play a...”

“I love to play horrible, evil, mean people.”

“I wanted a relationship like the one my mother and father had. It wasn't perfect; they had to work on it. But there was an unbelievable mutual respect.”

“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.”

“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...”

“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.”

“There's a style to doing period pieces, and you can't do a Western without understanding 'My Darling Clementine.'”

“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.”