Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Clarkson (FCLC ’82) returned to the Black Box Theatre at the Lincoln Center campus where she performed as an undergraduate more than 20 years ago to share her insights into the actor’s craft with Fordham acting students on Monday, Dec. 11.
“I graduated [from Fordham]24 years ago and the actor that I was in this room doing plays . . . in terms of my commitment, my dedication, my passion, my self-worth and my work ethic is exactly what it is right now,” Clarkson told the students. “That will never, ever, ever, ever leave you. The circumstances that you will go through as an actor will, of course, change. You will go through many, many incarnations . . . but this is where it all begins.”
Clarkson, who graduated summa cum laude from Fordham, went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Yale University School of Drama. Soon thereafter she landed her first film role in the 1987 movie The Untouchables. She has since appeared in more than 25 movies and acted in some 30 stage productions, including the Broadway plays The House of Blue Leaves and Eastern Standard. In 2002, she won an Emmy for her recurring role as Sarah O’Connor in the HBO series Six Feet Under, and in 2004 was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film Pieces of April.
