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Acting is a matter of giving away secrets.

Ellen Barkin

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Ellen Barkin
Age: 70
Born: 1954
Born: April 16
Actress
Film Actor
Film Producer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
The Bronx
New York City
Ellen Rona Barkin
Away
Art
Matter
Giving
Secrets
Theatre
Secret
Acting
Actors

More quotes by Ellen Barkin

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It's no stretch to picture me standing next to Al Pacino or Robert De Niro. Those are ethnic New York men. I'm an ethnic New York girl. Everybody has their limitations. I mean, I should never be cast as Queen Elizabeth.
Ellen Barkin
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I have skinny genes. My mother weighs 90 pounds.
Ellen Barkin
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Men who love their mothers treat women wonderfully. And they have enormous respect for women.
Ellen Barkin
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I guess if you're lucky enough not to have to pay your rent, then you or I take much more seriously the kind of work that I do, what it takes for me to leave two teenagers of my own and six stepchildren and a husband and four grandchildren.
Ellen Barkin
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It is clear I was never the Pretty Girl. I had my two front teeth knocked out when I was 10 and didn't fix them until I was 19. I have a crooked smile and a nose that looks like it's been broken 12 times but never has been. My nose was always red, so people called me Rudolph. My whole face is off-center.
Ellen Barkin
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You've got a movie where the pro-choice family gives their daughter no choice. The pro-life family murders. What seems to be the good mother, the kind of hippie painter, sweet and cute mother has no love for her daughter really.
Ellen Barkin
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I wish I had a little more ambition. But then what would I do? Turn down more roles with more vehemence? Me no likey worky.
Ellen Barkin
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Gabriel Byrne is an extraordinary human being. We have two extraordinary kids and we work at it. We were always friends. He stuck by me through very hard times, and I hope he'd say the same about me.
Ellen Barkin
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My nickname was Skinabo - skin and bones.
Ellen Barkin
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I like being married. I like taking care of people, having someone to make dinner for.
Ellen Barkin
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I am to a fault an introspective person. But I am not a reflective person - except for a big mistake, and then I really think about it.
Ellen Barkin
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There is a certain androgyny to my appeal.
Ellen Barkin
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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
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I'm Method trained. How is this character like me? What does she think of her mother? What does her mother think of her? It's like construction, and then, yes, you hope you're talented and that the universe aligns and captures the kind of laborer's work you've done and whatever else sprinkles down on you, and it's all caught on film or onstage.
Ellen Barkin
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A successful marriage isn't necessarily one that lasts until you're dead.
Ellen Barkin
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I have no problem being 53. Why would I want to be 35 again? I want to discover who I am in my 50s. And if I tried too hard to look younger, it would seem that I was uncomfortable with who I am, wouldn't it?
Ellen Barkin
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When I played Leonardo DiCaprio's mother, they liked that Leo had very hooded eyes and a rounded nose with a ball. They said, They look like they could be mother and son.
Ellen Barkin
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I just would never go audition, and yet I was in very visible places where people would come looking for actors. I say I'm lazy, though I'm sure if I were in therapy for a lot of years, it would turn out to be a lot more than laziness. After awhile, it was, like, too embarrassing for me not to go on auditions. I had to be humiliated into it.
Ellen Barkin
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There's no slow build anymore where you get a little part, then you get a little better part, then a better part, until one day your agent calls you us and says, 'guess what, you're a movie star,' and you say, 'Thank you!'
Ellen Barkin
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The more powerful you become, some people especially don't like it that you're a woman. I stick up for myself.
Ellen Barkin