“When you’re famous, you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way.” Marilyn Monroe Ayn Rand wrote a commentary in the Los Angeles Times, two weeks after Marilyn Monroe’s death on August 5, 1962. Referring to the “sordid and horrifying childhood of Monroe, Rand wrote: “To survive it and to preserve [...]
Winona Ryder has expressed a number of thoughtful comments and perspectives on being an actor, and the kinds of pressures affecting her life – and many other talented and sensitive artists. Here are some excerpts from an Interview magazine article. Stephen Mooallem: When you were younger did you ever get into one of those situations [...]
A role that resonated Summer Bishil stars in “Towelhead,” about a Lebanese American girl’s coming of age in Texas during the first Iraq war. In an article about the film, Rachel Abramowitz notes Bishil was 18 when she played 13-year-old Jasira in the film directed by Alan Ball (“Six Feet Under,” “American Beauty”), based on [...]
In SherryBaby (2006), Maggie Gyllenhaal portrayed Sherry Swanson, who returns home after serving a prison sentence to reestablish a relationship with her young daughter. Gyllenhaal describes for Interview magazine her experience with the character, and the big change in her attitude toward appreciating roles that are “not so wayward.” Maggie Gyllenhaal: We shot Sherrybaby in [...]
Mare Winningham and Tennessee Williams Mare Winningham is playing Amanda in a stage production of Tennessee Williams’ classic ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at the Old Globe in San Diego. In an interview, she commented about how rare it has been to find such deep, complex roles. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but so often during the [...]
Brooke Shields: My hope is that my kids won’t want to go into show business, just because of the heartache… I thrive on the experience of working. I don’t know myself any other way. [But] I’m not enamored by [fame]. I don’t covet it, the way someone who’s anonymous wants it, and then their life [...]
“With most people when there’s a pain in their life there’s mental scar tissue that forms over the pain and helps you go on living. “An actor’s scar tissue really never covers over things the same way, not if you’re going to be sensitive. With good technique, an actor can do that and walk through [...]
Referring to his role of Brick in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (directed by Debbie Allen),” Terrence Howard says, “I always tell directors, ‘The role I want is the role I can’t accomplish, the thing that’s going to make me fail.’ Every warrior is looking for that fight [...]
Melissa George plays Laura in the HBO series In Treatment: “An attractive young anesthesiologist in the midst of a relationship crisis” seeking the help of a psychoanalyst, played by Gabriel Byrne. HBO: Did you have any personal experience with therapy or was this a completely new world to you? Melissa George: A completely new world, [...]
High drug use in Hollywood “It’s so obvious that this is a population that has a huge appetite for drugs.” Drew Pinsky, MD The death of Heath Ledger – considered an accidental overdose of prescription medications – is another indication of how much drug use there is in the entertainment community. He also reportedly had [...]
Being told who you are “You can’t be yourself because you’re always being judged.” That is a line from “Ellie Parker” about an actress trying to get a start in Los Angeles, played by Naomi Watts, who also produced the film. That sort of uncertainty of identity and insecurity affects many artists on the way [...]
A common struggle In my article Actors and Addiction, I quote Philip Seymour Hoffman about using drugs and alcohol earlier in his life: “It was anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all.” He got sober, he says, because “You get panicked. I was 22, and I got panicked for my life.” [...]
Rainn Wilson radiates confidence Rainn Wilson discovered acting in a high school drama class, then moved to New York to study in NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, notes a new Los Angeles Times article [Revenge of the nerd, By Fred Schruers, March 22, 2007], and “filled the next decade with theater work, including Shakespeare and off-Broadway, [...]
Sarah Polley on fame In a recent article, film critic Kenneth Turan writes: Sarah Polley looks back on her decision to leave “Almost Famous” as a turning point in her life, a decision to keep fame at bay and have as normal a life as possible. “My first experience with a sliver of fame was [...]
In a recent news story, the accomplished actor, director and producer “warned aspiring actors against getting entangled in the idea of popularity as it could be destructive. “The 60- year old, academy nominated actor has blamed Hollywood and attendant fame for the discomposure and bedlam in his personal life. “Success and fame are as addictive [...]
In his bio on imdb.com, there is this quote from Philip Seymour Hoffman: “Film is a very uncomfortable medium for an actor. It’s just not conducive to doing what actors do. The first few days of shooting are like you just getting over the fact that you are there. These people and the camera over [...]
Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood [“Running with Scissors”] recalls getting beat up in elementary school for being an actor. “I think it was because my SAG card fell out of my bag, and [the kids] asked what it was and I explained to them, and no more than ten minutes later I was getting [...]
Lisa Kudrow was recently up for an Emmy for her role as Valerie Cherish in “The Comeback.” Kudrow has commented, “She’s not based on any one person in particular, it’s more about people who have their goals and their sights on the wrong thing. This is about a woman who has a husband and a [...]
Weeding out the weak? In a Backstage article [Crossing the Line by Nicole Kristal] acting coach Carolyne Barry comments, “I think that there are a lot of teachers out there who are on power trips and ego trips and truly believe that by demeaning people they can make [actors] work harder. Well, that will work [...]
Claire Danes on wanting acceptance Claire Danes admits that when she was growing up, she “wanted desperately to please, to be a good girl. I wanted acceptance. I still do.” Like many artists, she sought acceptance in renown: “A part of me desired fame because I associated it with love. That was a total mistake. [...]