I was this person with this weird last name from New York that no one had ever heard of. But my screen test I guess, according to him, was the best. So I got the part, which was incredible. Mary Steenburgen More Quotes by Mary Steenburgen More Quotes From Mary Steenburgen I wanted it to be a wonderful combination of being able to dance a little bit, not being especially good, but also playing a character who says the line, "I love to dance". Mary Steenburgen lines littles character I loved working with Malcolm [McDowell]. He's been such an important person in my life. I mean, not just as someone I was married to, which is huge, and the father of my children, which is even bigger, but also as a friend and an inspiration and somebody who probably helped to fuel something that all my reading as a child had already started, which was a love of England and the world of the theater over there, which I became involved with through him and probably because of him. Mary Steenburgen inspiration father children I think I did a couple of test commercials that didn't even make it on the air. That's how little I had really done. I knew almost nothing about the camera. In fact, I actually did know nothing about the camera. Mary Steenburgen couple air thinking I studied with Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. I was in the last class to study with him before he had his larynx removed, so I actually remember the sound of his voice. He was an incredible teacher. Mary Steenburgen voice class teacher Dancing in the strip club, Not the dancing, but the being naked was excruciatingly scary for me. Mary Steenburgen naked scary dancing I decided if you're lucky enough to be alive, you should use each birthday to celebrate what your life is about. Mary Steenburgen you celebrate birthday life Like most people, I have a dark side, but because of roles I played early on, people tend not to guess that. Mary Steenburgen like dark-side dark people I feel like I'm attracted to characters who have one foot firmly planted on the ground. And their heads up in the clouds somewhere. Practical dreamers. They try to impress you that they've got this whole thing figured out, but there's more going on inside their heads than you might imagine. Mary Steenburgen feel you impress clouds I wanted a relationship like the one my mother and father had. It wasn't perfect; they had to work on it. But there was an unbelievable mutual respect. Mary Steenburgen respect mother work relationship Our culture loves movies and TV, which is wonderful, but there's something a little bit passive sometimes about watching, because you're looking at other people's imagination at work. Mary Steenburgen you work culture people I'm kind of a laugh junkie. It's what I appreciate in life, because life is rich and sometimes it's hard, and I really, really love to laugh and gravitate towards people who make me laugh. Mary Steenburgen me love life people I have never been able to sing in the shower, much less in front of anybody. Mary Steenburgen shower sing been never Essential oils are extremely important to me. Mary Steenburgen oils essential me important My agents and managers deserve a special Emmy award for scheduling. Mary Steenburgen award scheduling deserve special If there's an addiction in the Clinton family, it's to problem solving. Mary Steenburgen solving addiction family problem I loved Westerns for different reasons as an adult. It is not only our only native brand of storytelling - the only one that's not influenced by Europeans and not something that's done better by the French - but I also love the sensuality of the Western. The sights, sounds, and smell of a Western are very exciting. Mary Steenburgen brand loved better love The time that Ted and I spend talking about our careers is almost infinitesimally small. We mostly talk about our kids and our grandkids. I think we talk about our careers if something funny happened at work. We're very childlike in many ways. Mary Steenburgen think work time funny My mother was a gorgeous person with no vanity, but she was a really good soul. Mary Steenburgen person good soul mother Whenever we start a new TV series, there's also a lot of question marks, and part of that is finding who you are. Mary Steenburgen finding new start you I would like to think that in America, as time goes on, you gain freedom, not lose freedom. Mary Steenburgen think you freedom time