Mary Steenburgen Quotes

I like to be able to play a character and act out a lot of things which I can't or don't do in my normal everyday life.

One of the great things about acting is you can do things that in real life would get you in trouble. I think that's something I figured out pretty early on.

I started acting because I was miserable and crazy and wanted to be someone else, to run around and scream in front of people without getting in trouble.

Onstage I do all the stuff I'd never do in real life, like lashing out at people who make me mad or freaking out in a long bank lineup. Performing allows me to fulfill all the sicko fantasies I've ever had.

That's why I'm an actress - escaping into a world.

We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? Especially if you are an actor.

You have license in front of the camera to do things, feel certain emotions that you don't get to in real life. It can be addicting.

Yeah, to me, acting is very therapeutic. I get out a lot of anger and frustration.

Acting has always been such escapism for me.

Acting is a way of living out one's insanity.

The interesting thing about acting is using all your own stuff and having some kind of personal catharsis while you're working.

Acting gave me the opportunity to do outrageous things. It allowed me to be sad, happy, angry and lustful, even if it was just vicariously.

Acting is a bit of a substitute for life.

Acting's not particularly complicated. But the great thing is you can step into somebody else's shoes without dealing with the consequences. It's very therapeutic in that way.

I was a very good girl for a long time, that's what really drew me to acting. The stage was the perfect place to be outrageous, to be sad, to be angry, to be all these different things.

There's so much more to life than that, though I think that acting is fascinating because you can forget your own sorrow as you act and become somebody else.

It's fun to pretend you're good at something you know you wouldn't be good at in real life.

The thing about being an actor is that you're in the business of not growing up.

In real life, I'm polite and nice all the time. It's fun to play people who aren't. It's escapism.

To be honest, acting was something where I got a chance to be somebody else and forget about the situation I was in.

I can express the brooding part of myself on-screen. It's kind of fun to get to do the bratty things I really wouldn't do. And then I get to go back to my regular life.

I love being an idiot, and acting lets you be an idiot.

I'm a storyteller, and I was an actor, so I have a fairly thin grip on reality to begin with.

Acting is the ability to dream on cue.

I love acting because it's a bit of an escape. It gives you the ability to reinvent yourself. They say that acting is the shy man's revenge.