Mary Steenburgen - biography

“Anything to do with the South resonates with me, because I’m Southern.”

“I helped found Artists for New South Africa, but it used to be called Artists for Free South Africa.  Alfre Woodard and a bunch of us started this.”

“I know this is kind of corny, but we thought about renewing our vows again because I think my mom would really love it if we did that in Arkansas, where I came from.”

“I love being in the business I’m in-I do love being a part of a group of people that work well together.  I love it when there’s a connection.”

“I take the fact that films cost a lot of money very seriously, but once in a while to have somebody say, This is a big scene, take your time with it, is important.  That’s John Sayles.”

“I think that we need to look hard at our beliefs and be responsible about how we speak out.”

“I was this person with this weird last name from New York that no one had ever heard of.  But my screen test I guess, according to him, was the best.  So I got the part, which was incredible.”

“I’d already made the decision before I’d even read it-just because it was John Sayles.  Then when I read it, the themes were actually themes that have been a big part of my life.”

“It was a few days later I came out to Hollywood for a screen test, and so did a lot of other people.  So, I really didn’t think I would get it.  I was definitely the one that was least likely to get it, because everyone else was an already established star.”

“It’s usually, my people speak to your people and then they speak around each other and trade calls for weeks.”

“That’s what happens to people, they start not seeing each other.  They start not seeing the truth.  And sometimes they start chasing the wrong thing.”

“There’s a certain arrogance to an actor who will look at a script and feel like, because the words are simple, maybe they can paraphrase it and make it better.”

“There’s just such a premium on hurrying, and the camera is the be all and end all, and the actors had better hurry up and get it right and get it done.”

Mary Steenburgen has appeared in the following films:
Goin’ South (1978)
Time After Time (1979)
Melvin and Howard (1980)
Ragtime (1981)
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982)
Cross Creek (1983)
Romantic Comedy (1983)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
Dead of Winter (1987)
The Whales of August (1987)
Parenthood (1989)
Miss Firecracker (1989)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
The Butcher’s Wife (1991)
Philadelphia (1993)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Nixon (1995)
The Grass Harp (1995)
Powder (1995)
Nobody’s Baby (2001)
Life as a House (2001)
The Trumpet of the Swan (2001)
Sunshine State (2002)
Wish You Were Dead (2002)
Hope Springs (2003)
Elf (2003)
The Dead Girl (2006)
Nobel Son (2007)
Numb (2007)
The Brave One (2007)
Elvis and Anabelle (2007)
Four Christmases (2008)
Step Brothers (2008)
In the Electric Mist (2009)
The Open Road (2009)
The Proposal (2009)
Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009)
Dirty Girl (2010)