Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Hardenis an American actress. Her film breakthrough was in the 1990 Coen brothers-directed Miller's Crossing. She followed this with roles in films including Used People, The First Wives Club, and Flubber. For her performance as artist Lee Krasner in the 2000 film Pollock, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She earned another Academy Award nomination for her performance as Celeste Boyle in Mystic River. Other notable film roles include American Gun, and 2007's The Mist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActress
Date of Birth14 August 1959
CountryUnited States of America
Isn't it nice not to have to compartmentalize yourself?
I've been so lucky to work with some great, great writers: Tony Kushner and Yasmina Reza.
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!'
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.'
Back in the days of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis, beauty wasn't the be-all and end-all it is today.
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.
Sometimes in film and television, I don't have the opportunity to play roles that really stretch and challenge me.
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.
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.
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.'
You've got to understand what makes the character human.
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.
So far, the thing I seem to have been rewarded for in film is leaving myself behind and transforming myself into other people.
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.