My work often takes me away from my family for long periods of time so I've really come to appreciate the time I do spend with them.
I relate to people and roles that are about the arc of human experience things that everyday people deal with every day.
I loved playing Anne Bancroft because she was so wonderfully arch.
In my kids' school the married family is an anomaly... which I do think is sad. I do believe in marriage.
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.
Having a dad in the service was helpful. I was forever meeting new kids going to new schools moving to new neighborhoods. I was encouraged when I attended the American School in Germany.
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.
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 love physical comedy. I adore comedy of any kind.
I played Laura Bush in a Tony Kushner piece and afterward I think my phones got tapped.
In any film there are 10 male roles for 1 female role especially in the action films. They're heavy with the guys.
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.
In my opinion Zac Efron is a total hero. Him seeking help encourages other people with addictive issues to seek help. It's brave of him.
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.
It's hard to balance work and family.
I'm not a big fan of mediocre.
All those days of waiting on tables until I could get a role on Broadway all that time going to school taking lessons and all those years of being a nobody following a dream-and now here it is.
Back in the days of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis beauty wasn't the be-all and end-all it is today.
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.
I love it when ugliness is beautiful. I love character flaws.
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.
We can be incredibly disconnected in this day and age with computers and cell phones.
I'm just a pack mule. I've played leads and I've played character roles. Any actress in Hollywood will tell you as your age climbs the leads thin.
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.
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.
You have to make sure that you and your child are connecting and it does help when they are looking directly into your eyes.
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.
The important thing is that when you correct your children they see what they've done wrong and why you're upset.
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.
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.
Whether you win or not the night the Oscars are over the curtain goes down and you go back to the grind. Period.
You know what I miss? I miss myself that time to just do things for myself.
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.
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.
I was always the child who wore her emotions on her sleeve.
I think families should vacation together and cruising is a wonderful option.
Harlem is a very family-oriented neighborhood and it always has been.
People have such false perceptions of how stardom really works.
Sometimes in film and television I don't have the opportunity to play roles that really stretch and challenge me.
Everybody says 'Good Morning' in Harlem because it's true! And that's lovely.
In theater you have a rehearsal period and you know just who to be.
I think irrationality is one of the scariest things in the world.
I do pottery.
I was always an exhibitionist. I liked it when everyone laughed. But I didn't do plays in high school. I was too nervous.
So far the thing I seem to have been rewarded for in film is leaving myself behind and transforming myself into other people.
In the theater it's about taking time in a musical segment a pause in a musical way and then moving on.
You can manipulate the viewer in film. With theater what you see is what you get.
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.'
If you are not in the red playroom of pain and pleasure "¦ shooting the movie is much like doing any other movie.
Its important that kids learn but I really dont like all the testing testing testing.