Patricia Clarkson - biography

“I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies.”

“I’m really a director’s actor.  I rely heavily on a director.”

“And I have a really great agent and I know it’s almost an oxymoron to say you have a smart agent.  But she is and she has a beautiful aesthetic and she has guided me.”

“I think it would be hard to go the distance in this business without a sense of humor.”

“The odds are not in your favor the older you get, especially if you’re a woman in this business.”

“Well did graduate summa cum laude from Fordham University.”

“But I have had the luxury of working on good films with great people.”

“I think it’s always harder in a film to convey intimacy.”

“The majority of work I do is in independent films, where you’re lucky if you have five takes.”

“I love writers.  All of my best friends are writers.”

“Why are comedic parts for women the exception, not the rule?”

“Holly Hunter has been doing great work forever.”

“And now oddly I’m getting sexier parts than I’ve ever gotten.”

“But no, had I been successful in my 20s I would have been just fine.  But it is nice to defy the odds.”

“I always try to approach character first and foremost viscerally.”

“I don’t like a lot of rehearsing.”

“I have to watch the news or my day is not complete.”

“I just have a thing for writers.  Maybe it because I’m just so not a writer.”

“I’ll read a script maybe twice, but I’ll think about the role more than I’ll rehearse lines.”

“I’m obsessed.  I’ve always needed to know what’s going on but now it’s a must.”

“I’m still traumatized that I’m going to be on a big screen in a white bikini and naked so who knows!”

“If my gravy train stops at SAG, honey, it’s been a great ride.”

“It’s never easy with characters in these dark and grave circumstances but that’s my job.”

“New Orleans.  Born and raised.  I lived there until I was 19.”

“See, the SAG awards caught me totally by surprise.”

“You’re always close and you never get that big romantic lead.”

Patricia Clarkson has appeared in the following films:
The Untouchables (1987)
Rocket Gibraltar (1988)
The Dead Pool (1988)
Everybody’s All-American (1988)
Tune in Tomorrow... (1990)
Jumanji (1995)
Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
Playing by Heart (1998)
High Art (1998)
The Green Mile (1999)
Simply Irresistible (1999)
Wayward Son (1999)
Joe Gould’s Secret (2000)
The Pledge (2001)
The Safety of Objects (2001)
Falling Like This (2001)
Wendigo (2001)
Welcome to Collinwood (2002)
Far from Heaven (2002)
Heartbreak Hospital (2002)
The Baroness and the Pig (2002)
Dogville (2003)
Pieces of April (2003)
All the Real Girls (2003)
The Station Agent (2003)
Miracle (2004)
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
All the King’s Men (2006)
The Woods (2006)
No Reservations (2007)
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Married Life (2007)
Blind Date (2007)
Elegy (2008)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Phoebe in Wonderland (2008)
Beyond All Boundaries (2009)
Shutter Island (2009)
Whatever Works (2009)
Cairo Time (2009)
Legendary (2010)
Easy A (2010)
Main Street (2010)
Friends with Benefits (2011)
One Day (2011)