Laura Linney Quotes

Powerful Laura Linney for Daily Growth

About Laura Linney

Laura Linney is an acclaimed American actress known for her versatility in portraying complex characters across various genres. Born on February 5, 1964, in New York City to Romulus Linney, a playwright, and Miriam Anderson-Linney, a teacher, Laura's love for acting was nurtured from an early age. Growing up in the vibrant artistic environment of Connecticut, Laura developed a strong interest in theater, which led her to study at Northwestern University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she made her professional stage debut in 1986. Throughout the 1990s, she honed her skills on Broadway and Off-Broadway, earning critical acclaim for her performances in "The Crucible," "Picnic," and "Sight Unseen." Linney's big break came in 1994 with her film debut in the romantic drama "Mission: Impossible." However, it was her role as Susan Keane in the HBO miniseries "Wild Iris" (2001) that truly catapulted her to stardom. Her other notable performances include roles in "You Can Count on Me" (2000), for which she earned an Academy Award nomination, "The Truman Show" (1998), and the Emmy-winning performance as Abigail Adams in "John Adams" (2008). In 2017, Laura won her second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role as Walnut 'Tilly' Teeve in the HBO series "Big Little Lies." She has also been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and six Tony Awards. Laura Linney continues to captivate audiences with her exceptional talent, balancing both film and stage work. Her ability to embody diverse characters and bring authenticity to each role solidifies her status as one of the most respected actresses in contemporary American cinema.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The most freeing thing I've ever learned is that you can choose your own feelings."

This quote suggests that individuals have control over their emotional responses to events or situations, rather than being entirely dictated by external factors. It emphasizes the power of personal choice in managing one's emotions, implying that it's possible to break free from feelings that may not serve our best interests, and instead choose ones that are empowering and helpful. In other words, we can decide how we want to feel, within the limits of our human capacity for emotional self-awareness and self-regulation.

"I have always wanted to be an actress. Even as a little girl, it was the only thing I could imagine myself doing."

This quote highlights Laura Linney's lifelong passion for acting. From her early childhood, she envisioned herself as an actress, indicating a deeply rooted dedication to this profession. The quote underscores her strong self-awareness, perseverance, and unwavering commitment towards her dream career in the performing arts.

"You can't live in fear of being hurt again."

This quote emphasizes resilience and courage, suggesting that it's important not to let past hurts or fears control one's present and future. It encourages people to take risks, form connections, and embrace life despite the possibility of pain. Living in fear of being hurt again can limit personal growth and prevent us from experiencing the richness life has to offer. Instead, it calls for moving forward with hope, empathy, and self-compassion.

"Acting is about the choices you make and how truthful those choices are."

This quote by Laura Linney emphasizes that acting is not just about memorizing lines or portraying a character, but rather about making authentic choices and living truthfully through those decisions within a role. It suggests that the essence of an actor's craft lies in their ability to convincingly embody characters by understanding their motivations, emotions, and actions, thereby creating believable performances that resonate with audiences.

"I think as you get older, the less time you have for anything that doesn't feel like it's connected to your soul."

This quote suggests that as one matures, they become more discerning about how they spend their time. They prioritize activities that resonate with their inner self or personal values, because these actions feel meaningful and purposeful. It implies a shift towards authenticity, self-awareness, and the pursuit of fulfilling experiences.

Traits like humility, courage, and empathy are easily overlooked - but it's immensely important to find them in your closest relationships.

- Laura Linney

Empathy, Like, Traits, Immensely

I have a bag with a toothbrush and toothpaste and all the things I might need during the day. I call the bag my trailer. Sometimes you don't have a trailer, so that's my trailer.

- Laura Linney

Sometimes, Need, Might, Toothbrush

Fear, anxiety and neurosis: that's just in the suitcase when you're an actor.

- Laura Linney

Anxiety, Actor, Neurosis, Suitcase

It is always good to explore the stuff you don't agree with, to try and understand a different lifestyle or foreign worldview. I like to be challenged in that way, and always end up learning something I didn't know.

- Laura Linney

Explore, Always, Like, Worldview

It's always nice when you do something and it's well received as opposed to the other way which God knows happens to everybody. When the good times come around, you take a deep breath, appreciate it, but not take it too seriously.

- Laura Linney

Deep, Other, Everybody, Deep Breath

Courtroom dramas can be boring.

- Laura Linney

Boring, Courtroom, Dramas

A magnetic personality doesn't necessarily indicate a good heart.

- Laura Linney

Personality, Magnetic, Good Heart

You can watch someone on-stage cry and cry - but in the audience you feel nothing. It's easy to become indulgent. For me, what's important is the story first.

- Laura Linney

Audience, Nothing, Feel, Indulgent

People can't really place me. They're not really sure who I am. Sometimes they think I'm Helen Hunt. Sometimes they think I'm Laura Dern.

- Laura Linney

Think, Hunt, Sure, Laura

My parents were divorced and I would spend weekends with my father.

- Laura Linney

Weekends, Would, Were, Divorced

What I love about a play is that it's such an investment because only time can create a lot of what happens onstage.

- Laura Linney

Love, Play, About, Only Time

You have to relish the challenge of television.

- Laura Linney

Challenge, Television, You, Relish

What people can survive and what they don't survive is shocking to me. Someone can go to Iraq and be blown to bits and survive. Someone can trip and fall on the street and they die - that's that.

- Laura Linney

Die, Survive, Go, Shocking

I believe that no matter what you do in life, if you learn the basics through theater, it will help you in everything else - problem solving, communication, discipline, all of that stuff.

- Laura Linney

Basics, Through, Solving, Everything Else

Comedy is a way to make sense of chaos. It's a way of dealing with things that are overwhelming, that threaten you; it's a way to survive and get closer to the truth.

- Laura Linney

Chaos, Survive, Dealing, To Survive

I can scarcely stand to have a manicure. I have to have them because you don't want to look like a disgusting human being - it's self-care and it has to happen, but I get very restless.

- Laura Linney

Happen, Restless, Very, Scarcely

I had learning disabilities, and I couldn't express myself in the written word.

- Laura Linney

Myself, Had, Written Word, Disabilities

Some people's personalities are so compelling that they command attention.

- Laura Linney

Attention, Some, Compelling, Personalities

I'm noise-sensitive. It's always better for me if things are quiet, so I can concentrate.

- Laura Linney

Better, I Can, Always, Concentrate

I just have to concentrate on doing what I do.

- Laura Linney

Doing, Just, Concentrate

I think the way we talk about cancer has really evolved. I remember the way my grandmother used to talk about it, like a death sentence, no-one would even mention the word.

- Laura Linney

Think, I Remember, Sentence, No-One

I find the whole disdain for ageing crazy.

- Laura Linney

Crazy, Find, Ageing, Disdain

I am very aware that playwrights, particularly good ones, have a intention for everything they write. Language and punctuation is used specifically, and most of the time actors can find wonderful clues about character in the rhythm and cadence of the language used.

- Laura Linney

Language, Very, About, Specifically

What I hope in my ideal world is that with each project, I'll either get to work with a really great script that would force me to grow, or work with a really great actor who will make me better.

- Laura Linney

Hope, Project, Either, Great Script

I tend to make low-budget movies but, yeah, I make more money than I ever thought I would make.

- Laura Linney

Movies, Tend, Ever, Low-Budget

I think everyone's experience with a terminal disease is so deeply personal and unique to the person, the context in which they're living and the relationships that they have.

- Laura Linney

Think, I Think, Which, Context

I don't think you should exploit your own pain.

- Laura Linney

Pain, Think, Own, Exploit

I hope that anyone I worked with wouldn't exploit our relationship.

- Laura Linney

Worked, Anyone, I Hope That, Exploit

With big, emotional roles it's very easy, especially if you've grown up in the American school of acting, to exploit your own pain. You have to be careful about that, because 9 times out of 10, your pain is not appropriate to the character.

- Laura Linney

Big, Very, Appropriate, Exploit

My castings sort of go in phases. There'll be several icy professional parts - a lawyer or a cop. And then there'll be the intelligent-but-wounded group and then the period things. It goes in sequence.

- Laura Linney

Goes, Cop, Period, Sequence

If you have two parents who have to work, who want to work, you need to have someone to guide your child.

- Laura Linney

Work, Your Child, Need, Guide

I've seen the greatest actors in the world, transcendent talents, who can't find a home.

- Laura Linney

World, Talents, Find, Transcendent

I grew up in Manhattan and, since my father was a playwright, all I ever wanted to be was a stage actress.

- Laura Linney

Father, Manhattan, Actress, Playwright

I'm sure my father had more to do with my career than I would like to give him credit for. I would love to think it was all me!

- Laura Linney

Love, Think, Give, Credit

I just want to say, 'Go work! It doesn't matter what it is. Work begets work. Just go!'

- Laura Linney

Work, Want, Go, Begets

I enjoy learning about different periods and people, and then taking what's universal about the human condition and seeing where it matches up. No matter where you are, certain things unite everybody.

- Laura Linney

Human Condition, Everybody, Universal

My family is from the South, and I can remember all those ladies I grew up with, like my great-aunts, who had handkerchiefs. There's something sweet about them.

- Laura Linney

Like, About, South, Ladies

I love to work in all sorts of different situations.

- Laura Linney

Love, Work, I Love, Situations

All the things that most kids hated, I loved. I loved that things were asked of me and that, much to my surprise, I was able to do them. I loved the 10 o'clock bedtime. I loved the responsibility.

- Laura Linney

Surprise, Most, Them, Hated

When your life is being threatened there's an instinctive urge to fight. You fight for the time you have, for your relationships.

- Laura Linney

Relationships, Instinctive, Threatened

The only really conscious decision I made was to cast my net wide and if the work was good, to do it.

- Laura Linney

Decision, Made, Wide, Net

Fame didn't happen to me in my 20s, it has been a gradual thing which probably makes it easier to deal with.

- Laura Linney

Happen, Been, Which, Easier

I crave a cone of silence every once in while.

- Laura Linney

Silence, Once, While, Crave

People's view of cancer will change when they have their own relationship with cancer, which everyone will, at some point.

- Laura Linney

Will, Some, Which, Cancer

Cancer is so much bigger than a TV show.

- Laura Linney

Bigger, TV, TV Show, Cancer

I don't want to spend my life in my 40s feeling bad about being in my 40s, and then all of a sudden I'm 50, and I will have missed a whole decade!

- Laura Linney

My Life, Bad, Decade, Sudden

I am very lucky, because for the most part people are very nice to me, and I am still able to go about my life and ride the subway and all that.

- Laura Linney

My Life, Lucky, Very, Subway

My experience is that's rare - that you have a script that is... what they call 'film-ready.'

- Laura Linney

Experience, Rare, Call, Script

If there's one thing that I've done on purpose it's to take whatever job, so long as it's interesting and challenging, whether it's theatre, radio, TV or film.

- Laura Linney

Purpose, Interesting, TV, Challenging

The good thing is that I'm always honest.

- Laura Linney

Good, Honest, Always, Good Thing

For me to have the opportunity to stay with one character for, God willing, a long period of time, is really exciting.

- Laura Linney

Opportunity, Willing, Period, Long Period

I'm not someone who likes to have my picture taken, let alone see it plastered all over the place.

- Laura Linney

Alone, Picture, Over, Likes

I'm lucky because I don't like being in the sun a whole lot, just because the repercussions for me - I feel it, I go very red.

- Laura Linney

Lucky, Like, Very, Sun

I could have gone to the gym for three hours a day and bought into all that, but I just wasn't interested.

- Laura Linney

Three, Hours, Could, Bought

Working with special needs children is hard.

- Laura Linney

Children, Special, Needs, Special Needs

Tanning is tricky, because a lot of people just look orange.

- Laura Linney

Orange, Because, Lot, Tricky

I'm absolutely doing what I enjoy.

- Laura Linney

Enjoy, Doing, Absolutely

I don't think I'm exactly gregarious, you know. I'm not usually known as the loud person in the room.

- Laura Linney

Think, Room, Loud, Exactly

I'm very hard on my bags because I tend to carry a lot of stuff with me.

- Laura Linney

Very, Lot, Tend, Bags

I have an instinct to want to be part of a group of people. I feel safe there. That's why I was in school for so long.

- Laura Linney

Want, Instinct, Part, Safe

At school I was always trying to con my teachers into letting me act out book reports instead of writing them.

- Laura Linney

Always, Con, Reports, Letting

I grew up in Manhattan on the Upper East Side.

- Laura Linney

East, Side, Upper, Manhattan

I love working closely with people.

- Laura Linney

Love, Working, I Love, Closely

It's very hard to put forth a film that's about love and the joy of love and for it not to be patronising and not make people nauseous or make them roll their eyes.

- Laura Linney

Love, Very, About, Forth

A lot of what is publicized now is really pretty trivial stuff - you know, what I eat for breakfast, where I have my pedicures, questions that I just cannot for the life of me understand why someone would want to know that.

- Laura Linney

Life, Questions, Why, Breakfast

I mean, the idea of losing a parent is really inconceivable. I think there's just an undertone of dread about the subject, so people don't talk about it and don't prepare for it.

- Laura Linney

Parent, Think, Inconceivable, Losing

What I find so interesting about people is the choices they make, and how that effects their behavior, their sense of self and their relationships.

- Laura Linney

Interesting, Sense, About, Relationships

I get cold - really cold - when I travel.

- Laura Linney

Travel, Get, Really, Cold

I've always thought that I'm sexy in my own right, but not in a way that people thought was bankable.

- Laura Linney

Sexy, Thought, Always, My Own

I always laugh to myself when I listen to some really big A-list star saying that they are just a normal person.

- Laura Linney

Big, Some, Always, Normal

Doing the right thing has power.

- Laura Linney

Doing, Right, Right Thing

Just because you're not famous, doesn't mean you're not good.

- Laura Linney

Famous, Mean, Because, Just Because

The entertainment industry is terrified of silence.

- Laura Linney

Entertainment, Industry, Terrified

I'm profoundly lucky. I really like it. I really like my work. I've liked it since I was 5 years old.

- Laura Linney

Work, Lucky, Like, Profoundly

History's a resource.

- Laura Linney

History, Resource

I don't consider myself a celebrity and I don't consider myself a star.

- Laura Linney

Myself, Star, Consider, Celebrity

I certainly didn't have a nanny.

- Laura Linney

Certainly, Nanny

I had a good imagination and I still have one; a child-like imagination that hasn't gone away.

- Laura Linney

Away, Still, Had, Child-Like

You know when someone's over-flattering you in a way. You smile but you can't believe it.

- Laura Linney

Believe, Know, Someone, Smile

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