A Quote by Marcia Gay Harden

Sometimes in film and television, I don't have the opportunity to play roles that really stretch and challenge me. — © Marcia Gay Harden
Sometimes in film and television, I don't have the opportunity to play roles that really stretch and challenge me.
I've noticed a lot of people talking about the wealth of roles for powerful women in television lately. And when I look around the room at the women here and I think about the performances that I've watched this year, what I see actually are women who are sometimes powerful and sometimes not. Sometimes sexy and sometimes not. Sometimes honourable and sometimes not. And what I think is new is the wealth of roles for actual women in television and in film. That's what I think is revolutionary and evolutionary and it's what turning me on.
Being on a low-budget film is difficult enough, and you may as well be working on something that you really believe in and you really love, and for me, that's to play different characters, to play different roles, and challenge myself.
I'm an actor and I am looking for roles where I can continue to evolve, and things that are challenging. I gravitate to the roles, not necessarily television or film. It's just the fact that, for me, the most interesting roles have been in television.
I gravitate to the roles, not necessarily television or film. It's just the fact that, for me, the most interesting roles have been in television.
Television has been really good to me in terms of the roles I've been able to get on TV as opposed to the roles I've gotten in film and in theater.
You learn so much from making mistakes, not even necessarily mistakes that I've made, a lot of the time the films just don't work out because it's a really difficult process. And sometimes there's a certain person underlining process. But I've had an opportunity to work on all different types of films and I have had a lot of opportunities to stretch myself in different ways and now is the time where I get to try and figure out out the roles that I can really play well and play them well.
I'm very fortunate that I get asked to do very different kinds of roles and I realize how much I enjoy that. I enjoy the challenge of transformation. There are actors who play one character, or a certain kind of character, the whole of their lives. I really relish the opportunity to have the challenge to totally transform.
I'm definitely a fan of sort of dramas, independent sort of social dramas where you play really challenging roles. Every actor wants to play those dark roles and it's definitely true for me and I'd love to kind of challenge myself in any way possible.
In other ways, you constantly have to change people's opinion of you as one thing, especially if you want to play different roles. You have to shatter that image sometimes. I've had to do it before with stage roles, to get roles. I'm drawn to kind of darker, misfit things. I would like to, especially in film, play against type and do some heavier stuff. I'm intrigued by projects that deal with problematic people and things.
That's the beauty of being an actress, is that you hopefully get to have different roles and really stretch yourself. This is really what I've been working for a while. I've been in the business for a minute, and it's an opportunity like this that I've been really working towards.
I had fears going into television that it might become boring to me, and I always like to be challenged, push myself. You do a film, and you know where you're going; you have this material to stretch and play with as much as possible because you know how it ends.
There are many roles and I haven't had the opportunity to do any of them. I jokingly tell people 'Sometimes I wonder, is the film industry waiting for me to die and then say it's sad. He was a good actor. He was underrated and didn't have enough chances.'
It's been interesting that a diversity of roles have come my way, and that I've had the opportunity to do them. To me, it's about going for a good role that has something to say, and that's a challenge. I've been lucky enough to play everything from a homeless guy to this crazy male nurse.
Any time you get to do a David Mamet play, it's a great opportunity. His writing is such that I think it's a big challenge, but when you get it right, it's a great opportunity to play every night, really.
You don't pass up roles that give you the opportunity to stretch and to grow.
The challenge is when you're offered similar roles, and you have to play them differently. I don't want people to say, 'She performs similarly in every film. There is no versatility.'
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