I had gone through a mother having dementia in the last couple of years of her life. She was in a nursing facility in my little hometown area of northern Illinois, so I got to see a lot of other patients there in various stages of the disease. I had a firsthand exposure to it in a pretty big way.

When I was 20 years old and first with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, we had an 88-seat theater in a basement and no money.

I have three wonderful siblings, and we all pitched in equally to help our mother.

Joan Allen Quotes