Kathy Bates

I was never an ingenue. I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough. It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.

American Actress

Jennifer Coolidge

I don't know what I am. I guess you can call me a character actor in the sense that I'll never be an ingenue. You know, that's over. My shot was missed. I take a normal person and make them more of a character. I don't know what that would be called.

Geraldine Page

They did cast me as an ingenue once, and the novelty was nice. But I said, 'There is nothing here to play!' I really like getting into the meat of a role.

Sissy Spacek

There's kind of a time you get warned about where the rug gets pulled out from under you: beyond ingenue, before you get into character stuff.

Kelli O'Hara

I've always wanted my characters to have more dimension and realistic cores than the ingenue material often provides. It's been a challenge.

Kay Cannon

I wasn't, like, pretty enough to be the ingenue; I wasn't 'character' enough to be the goofball sidekick. I'm kind of ethnically ambiguous.

American Writer

Ming-Na Wen

I'm trying to show I'm a trained actress - I can transform myself into different characters. I'm not just an ingenue.

Chinese Actress

Patricia Arquette

Frankly, there is no shorter shelf life other than that of a child actor, than that of the ingenue.

Lea Salonga

I can't be an ingenue forever, and I wouldn't want to be.

Filipino Actress

Patricia Routledge

I was never an ingenue, thank God; always character.

English Actress

Originally, 'ingenue' referred to innocent young women in plays and novels.

Literary Origin

Actors playing ingenues may be typecast, limiting them to similar roles in the future.

Typecasting Risk

Today, the ingenue stereotype is challenged to reflect more complex female characters.

Cultural Shift

An ingenue character often embodies naivety, experiencing life lessons in the story.

Naivety Implied

Ingenue characters are crafted to evoke empathy and connect with the audience's protective instincts.

Evoking Empathy

Use 'ingenue' to describe actual persons with care; it might seem patronizing or outdated.