It's a scary thing going into the workforce with a $50,000 debt and you've been trained as a classical theatre actor. There's always a depression in the theatre. Frances McDormand More Quotes by Frances McDormand More Quotes From Frances McDormand This has always been available to all — everybody who does a negotiation on a film — which means you can ask for or demand at least 50 percent diversity in not only the casting but the crew. The fact that I just learned that after 35 years in the film business — we are n’t going back. Frances McDormand latest-headlines With aging, you earn the right to be loyal to yourself. Frances McDormand right yourself you aging I'm not a depressive, but I certainly have mood swings. It's an occupational hazard, I would say, and I'm glad I'm in the occupation I'm in. Frances McDormand mood-swings say mood glad Female characters in literature are full. They're messy: they've got runny noses and burp and belch. Unfortunately, in film, female characters don't often have that kind of richness. Frances McDormand messy film kind literature That's another great thing about getting older. Your life is written on your face. Frances McDormand face great getting-older life When you lose a spouse, you're a widow or widower; when you lose your parents, you're an orphan. When you lose a child, there's no word in the English language for that position, that place that you're left. Frances McDormand parents child you language Guess what? I am an ordinary person. Frances McDormand guess person i-am ordinary-person I've given just as much of my life to that, and I practiced it with the same zeal, as I have acting. And I think that many of my skill sets from being a housewife I used for producing. Because you don't stop until it's done. Frances McDormand my-life think you life If you want to talk about cultural appropriation, we have to go back to the Greeks. Frances McDormand back go you want I was too old, too young, too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too blond, too dark - but at some point, they're going to need the other. So I'd get really good at being the other. Frances McDormand fat short good dark I know I'm profane. And outspoken. Frances McDormand know profane outspoken I think that ageism is a cultural illness; it's not a personal illness. Frances McDormand i-think personal think illness I think that cosmetic enhancements in my profession are just an occupational hazard. But I think, more culturally, I'm interested in starting the conversation about aging gracefully and how, instead of making it a cultural problem, we make it individuals' problems. Frances McDormand problems think problem conversation I learned how to read in second grade, and I entered a summer contest at my local library in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If you read more books than anybody else, you got your Polaroid up on the bulletin board, and I did. Frances McDormand your you library summer I love flying by the seat of my pants, going at something instinctually. Frances McDormand something pants flying love My position has always been that the way people age and the signs that we show of aging is nature's way of tattooing. It's natural scarification, and the life you lead gives you the symbols and the emblems of your life, the road map you followed. Frances McDormand you nature age life Growing up a preacher's kid wasn't the easiest thing. Everybody's always watching you to see how you'll behave - or misbehave. Frances McDormand see you always growing-up The fact that I'm sleeping with the director may have something to do with it. Frances McDormand fact director something may