Annette Bening Quotes

Every person's opinion, in a way, does matter.

Annette Bening

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• My character in 'Running With Scissors' is manic-depressive. She starts out as a wonderfully eccentric person, and then descends into a terrible illness.

  

  Annette Bening
  • She
  • Character
  • Running

• Having a life outside of movies is like pure oxygen. It makes the work more precious and informed.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Life
  • Work

• I had never been attracted to younger guys. I had, from my late teens, always liked men who were older than me.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Men

• When I started, I was a theater actress, and there were roles that I couldn't imagine not playing, like Rosalind in 'As You Like It.' I used to think I would die if I could play that. But then I started doing movies, and I had children, and I moved to Los Angeles. And now I kind of can't remember what those roles would be.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Children
  • Remember
  • Die

• I feel really lucky that I'm able to pursue the work that I love. I want my children to see that. I want them to have that for themselves, something that they love, that they do, that they pursue in their lives as a way of growing and learning.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Work
  • Children
  • Growing

• Five billion people have played Hamlet. 'To be or not to be.' And how do you do that and find your way into your own journey, your own way of telling it?

  

  Annette Bening
  • People
  • Journey
  • Hamlet

• I think for all of us, as we age, there are always a few moments when you are shocked.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Age
  • Moments

• My husband and I have very similar backgrounds even though we're years apart. So there are a lot of things that we basically share.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Husband

• There's love for your parents, your family, your spouse, your partner, your friends, but the nature of the connection you have with your child, there's nothing like it. It has its own character and it's so serious and so powerful, and so it's a prism through which I see everything.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Family
  • Character
  • Friends

• We all perform our lives in a way. And the actor is a perfect metaphor to get at that theme of 'how do we find our authentic selves?' And that we all - whether we're actors or not - perform ourselves. As a way of searching. As a way of fumbling around and trying to say, is this my voice? Is this who I am?

  

  Annette Bening
  • Trying
  • Perfect

• I think you sort of shed skins as you go along in life. You get into your 40s, and you feel like, 'OK, no more pretending.' You get to just be who you are.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Life

• I didn't do a movie until I was almost 30. I'm grateful for that because it gave me a chance to be an adult in the world and do work in the regional theater that very few people cared about. I loved it and I wanted to do that stuff.

  

  Annette Bening
  • People
  • World
  • Work

• I never speak for my husband, and I never speak for my children. It's a rule. Believe me, it is.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Believe
  • Children
  • Husband

• Right now, I love the fact that I have so many opportunities, but I know this privileged position cannot last. That doesn't mean that I'll stop working. I picture myself as an old actress doing cameos in films with people saying: 'Isn't that that Bening woman?'

  

  Annette Bening
  • People
  • Stop
  • Picture

• I like that I've been through things, that when something happens, it resonates with something that already happened. It's not that things like loss are more or less painful. But they're deeper. I find that fascinating.

  

  Annette Bening

• I'm still very critical of myself in film.

  

  Annette Bening

• I like things that I feel comfortable in.

  

  Annette Bening

• I feel that certain things are best kept inside a family and not discussed with anyone else.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Family

• What makes us love a character is a character that tries.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Character

• To me idealized characters are so boring to play, especially having grown up in the classical theater. That's a great experience, but as a woman, especially, you've played a lot of idealized characters. So when you've got someone who has weaknesses as well as strengths, that's interesting.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Up
  • Great
  • Experience

• I am in awe of Ruth Draper.

  

  Annette Bening

• Glamour is really fun.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Fun

• Anybody who has children and children who are well feels a sense of responsibility towards parents and kids and families that are struggling and that aren't well.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Children
  • Kids
  • Parents

• My parents were very supportive. They went to every show. And they never told me not to do what I was doing.

  

  Annette Bening
  • Parents