With all of the divisiveness that is going on in the country we live in, so much of it is based around just fear of the other. And anyone who does not look like me, walk like me, talk like me, have sex like me, they’re the other and I’m afraid of them. And hopefully we will learn that it’s just not scary. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
I’d never say I’ll never have a facelift, but I’m way too scared of looking like a different person. I have no philosophical or political position on plastic surgery; I just don’t want to look crazy. And I don’t like not being able to tell how old someone is: It’s creepy. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
I like being married. I like taking care of people, having someone to make dinner for. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
I remember my first friend who got sick. It was 1981, and the disease was called the gay cancer. I don’t think the word ‘AIDS’ came out until ’84. I just remember it being terrifying as more people got sick. We didn’t know how you could catch it, you heard all kinds of crazy things. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
My first movie was ‘Diner.’ My second movie was ‘Tender Mercies.’ I did really good work. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
I’m tenacious, I think – I know – and I do also have a quality where if you tell me I can’t do something, if I know I can’t do it I’m the first to raise my hand and say, ‘I can’t do that.’ But there is a big Bronx, New York Jew in me that just says, ‘Really? Really? You think I – yes, I can. I can do it. I can do it.’ Ellen Barkin Read Quote
Would you just strap some toe shoes on and dance ‘Swan Lake?’ No. Would you just put a violin in your hand and – ? No. I felt that way about acting, and I was taught to feel that way. I didn’t come to it on my own. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
I was trained by Method acting teachers and we were taught that aside from whatever gift you may or may not have or the level of that gift, that you were obliged to know how to build a table. It’s a craft. It’s like being a ballerina or a violinist. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
Skinniness is not your friend when you’re over 40. I’d like to gain a good 10 pounds, but I did always have a fat, round face that plagued me when I was young. When I started to make movies, I couldn’t look at myself. Ellen Barkin Read Quote
