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
Sometimes in film and television, I don't have the opportunity to play roles that really stretch and challenge me.
I think families should vacation together, and cruising is a wonderful option.
The important thing is that when you correct your children, they see what they've done wrong and why you're upset.
You know what I miss? I miss myself, that time to just do things for myself.
It's important that kids learn, but I really don't like all the testing, testing, testing.
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.
You've got to understand what makes the character human.
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.
I think to visualize failure as you're starting off is really a bad thing to do.
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!'
People have such false perceptions of how stardom really works.
The people who stood out in the Sandy Hook incident, the heroes, were the normal, ordinary people who went to save those children.
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.
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.
Back in the days of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis, beauty wasn't the be-all and end-all it is today.
I think irrationality is one of the scariest things in the world.
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.
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.
You have to make sure that you and your child are connecting, and it does help when they are looking directly into your eyes.
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.
Everybody says 'Good Morning' in Harlem because it's true! And that's lovely.
It's hard to balance work and family.
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.
I loved playing Anne Bancroft, because she was so wonderfully arch.
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.
Working on 'King Of Texas' was a life experience for me.
In any film, there are 10 male roles for 1 female role, especially in the action films. They're heavy with the guys.
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.
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.
You can manipulate the viewer in film. With theater, what you see is what you get.
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.
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.
I don't think any extremism is rational.
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.
We can be incredibly disconnected in this day and age with computers and cell phones.
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.
I relate to people and roles that are about the arc of human experience, things that everyday people deal with every day.
Harlem is a very family-oriented neighborhood, and it always has been.
I've never really liked horror films.
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.
I just never wanted to be too much in the background. I always wanted to be a part of things.
In my kids' school, the married family is an anomaly... which I do think is sad. I do believe in marriage.
If you think someone committed a crime, you should turn them in to whomever you perceive authority to be.
The trophy wife must be in her 20s to earn the title 'trophy wife.'
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.'
Isn't it nice not to have to compartmentalize yourself?
Doing theater is such a specifically energetic and almost acrobatic work.
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.
