Brian Dennehy Quotes

My looks haven't prevented me from playing prostitutes or people broken by life. But when they need a token blonde with big breasts, that's OK, too. It's part of the game.

Let's be honest. Physicality is going to have a bearing on the parts you get. And if you think differently, you're in the wrong business.

With 'Broadcast News,' it became a non-issue, and with 'The Piano,' it became a non-issue. Both parts were written for more statuesque women. It was nice to change people's minds about that, because that's neither here nor there.

I wasn't, like, pretty enough to be the ingenue; I wasn't 'character' enough to be the goofball sidekick. I'm kind of ethnically ambiguous.

The thing is to convince people that a part not written for a Latina woman - or maybe not even written for a woman at all - is a female part. You convince them you can do it.

I was very surprised that for a while I could only get cast as straight. It was that way for a few years.

I never get the tall, blonde, glamorous roles because I'm not tall, blonde and glamorous. I'm more the wee, disturbing characters because of the way I look or sound.

I don't like actors, I like women.

In fact, I'll be taking a lot of Cathy Gale with me. I expect that was why I was chosen for the part.

There is this idea that you have to play heroines or women who succeed.

As a woman, it seems you can't just be a comedian; you're always classed as something else, too, whether that's 'beautiful,' 'pint-sized,' 'larger-than-life' or in my case, 'Hattie Jacques-esque,' 'the giraffe,' 'big.'

At first I was always cast as the girlfriend. It was a long time before I got to play characters who were people.

I love playing strong women, even if they're nuts.

I could say, 'I want to play a French-African humpback,' but I probably won't get that role.

Before 'Lucky Louie,' nobody would ever cast me to play a mom or a wife; nobody ever saw me in that role, which is weird, since that's who I really am.

If you're going to be born ugly and be an actor - the least they can do is let you play Lincoln.

When I was just starting out, I had two choices: I could be the beautiful girl on the main man's arm as decoration, or I would have to do a little independent movie to get any depth in the female character.

I have played a lot of roles in my career where I'm the sexual interest. I'm always having to fight that.

If I were a man, I'd be allowed to play roles that were compelling and drove an audience to an emotional response.

It can be difficult to get cast as something that is off-center from you, and my biggest fear is to be typecast.

I have a real pet peeve for women who play damaged characters but don't look damaged.

When you're a six-foot-four, two-hundred-and-fifty-pound dude, you're not the romantic lead.

If you do an item song, then you're categorized as an item girl; if you focus on acting, you're categorized as an actor.

I have played mother many times in south films. And I really have no problem with it.

For me, playing a mother was a point of resistance; the question of 'will I get typecast' was going on in my mind.