OK, so I'm a working mom that also gets to kiss George Clooney. That's a little bit of a perk of the job.
— Elizabeth Marvel
By nature, my default place is a very introverted one, so it's funny to be in such an extroverted profession. I'm a little inappropriately in it.
I ended up landing in London out of high school, and I saw a performance that Vanessa Redgrave gave, just because it was a cheap ticket, and I didn't know what to do with my afternoon, and I went in, and I saw this Eugene O'Neill play, and I sat in the fifth row, and I watched her.
I see artists as the first responders. And when the proverbial crap hits the fan, we are there to be of service, to tell the story, to bring a balm, to soothe, to provide catharsis. You know, not to make our work any more important or less important, but just that there is a great importance to it.
I get to play a lot of powerful, smartest women in the room. And that's deeply satisfying.
You talk through what exactly happened to Howard Dean on the campaign trail, what Bill Clinton must have lived through, what the daily grind of doing what these people have to do. And they can never lose their temper, they can never be tired, and they can never slip up, or it's on-camera, and it's everywhere - and it's over.
You always hear about the disempowered actor, their fate in other people's hands. It's just really wonderful to experience it the other way around.
I have no ability or interest to play that weak, beaten person.
I just love the idea of doing an all-female play on Broadway.
The first play I ever did was with Michael Langham, Brian Bedford, and Colm Feore, at Stratford Festival. That was my first professional job, and I got to work with Garland Wright and so many great artists.
I'm not familiar with an unaccepting family. But in my profession, nothing can be foreign.
When I work onstage, I want to play roles that have real, deep theatricality, that aren't the sort you would easily see on television and in the movies.
In some ways, I missed my era because I'm big and messy and have big feelings and take up space on a stage rather than being diminutive and childlike in my woman-ness.
There are lots of rats. It's a dirty little secret at the Delacorte Theatre.
As an actress, you have to be very naive.
I love seeing people in their mess. I find that heartwarming. Charm just doesn't interest me. If I want to see charming people, I can watch TV.
I think being a mom changed me, and now it's not just about what I want to do and what's sort of interesting, but what I absolutely have to do.
It's all really nice to have my pretend Secret Service people paying me respect, but the moment I walk in the door, it's back to being 'Mom.'
I think there is a certain gravitas about me. My energy can be very big and yet contained.
You know, the '80s, as crazy as the '80s were, that was a surprisingly kind and generous environment that I found myself in as a teenager.
If you can see it, you can be it. And I believe in that.
Who wouldn't want to play the leader of the free world?
How do you stand tall and strong as a woman while trying to be the smartest woman in the room and try to remain non-threatening?
I don't believe in saying no.
Every time I do a play, I'm like, 'When do I get to do the one where I wear a gown, sit in a chair, and say funny things?' I'd love to do that.
I see a lot of art; we see a lot of music, films at Sundance... that influences me and informs me more than theater just because I make a bigger effort to see other art forms.
I will happily work anywhere they need me to if they pay me well.
I've been around the block.
Tim Burton is an artist who has had a huge influence on me. I definitely share his sensibility. It's a joyful approach to darkness.
I think every actor has those performances they've seen, the person who made them realize that's what they wanted to do.
There comes a point in any project where you have to say - whether you like or understand the character, or the whole play for that matter - 'I believe!'
Whenever I approach any character, I try to find examples to draw upon.
When I was nursing my son, you're up all the time during the first year, and you're sort of brain dead. So I'd find myself watching Turner Classic Movies at odd hours.
I'm dying for people to let me be funny!
I'm a hypervisual person.
I don't look presidential. I don't wear, you know, three-piece suits and have my hair perfectly coiffed.
I went to an art school in high school and got in a little trouble like you do when you're a teenager and not being closely supervised. I did. I followed the Dead around, and it was fun. It was great. It was kind and sweet and lovely.
I have to say, it seems to be the older I get, the better the work gets. When has that been true?
I was in several Shakespeare in the Park productions in my younger years, but I've been busy with other things for a while.
We are in this amazing age of television where there's an incredible amount and an incredible quality of television, of long-form narrative.
It's really interesting because I'm a Quaker... so it's been radical to me to be hired by the Department of Defense under contract.
I know all my tricks, and I'm pretty bored with them, so if that's all someone wants, I'd rather wait for TV money and not work so hard.
Personally, I don't want to do theater that's very stylish, when it's just stories on stage that are basically the same as TV or film.
We have to be able to use our imaginations to make the character's experiences real to us.
The audience has its own gestalt, and it becomes another character - a character that changes each night.
I was a spooky kid; that was just my nature.
If someone can make money from you, you can do more things, and eventually, you can do things you come up with.
I've been told I'm bright. But when I act, I get incredibly stupid. I feel my intellect slowing down. I feel it happening physically. And that's not negative in acting!
Trying to find a way to represent something that is truly frightening on stage is a fascinating challenge.
If I'm asking people to give me two hours of their time, it's because I really feel like they need to listen to what the writer is talking about.
