Patricia Clarkson

The majority of work I do is in independent films, where you're lucky if you have five takes.

I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies.

But no, had I been successful in my 20s I would have been just fine. But it is nice to defy the odds.

As a writer, I try to do different things, but I'm not going to become a darker artist or turn into Radiohead overnight. I don't think that's my style.

I was a really bad teenager and I got my tongue pierced. I don't even remember where I did it, but it was under very surreptitious circumstances.

When I do my makeup, it kind of helps me get into the character that I'm trying to portray.