Quote Of The Day: Jodie Foster On Identity

Jodie Foster began her long and illustrious career in a string of Disney films before going on to earn an Academy Award nomination for her role in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.” That recognition helped pave the way for roles in films like “Bugsy Malone” and “The Accused.” Foster is now best known for playing FBI rookie Clarice Starling in 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs.” The actor has received two Oscars, three BAFTA awards, four Golden Globes, and a Primetime Emmy for her work.

On the television front, Foster has made guest appearances in shows like “Gunsmoke,” “The Addams Family,” and “The X-Files.” She notably played Liz Danvers in Season 4 of “True Detective,” which followed the eerie disappearance of a research group at an Arctic station. She has also directed episodes of “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards.” 

In front of the camera, Foster has always been able to infuese her characters with emotional intelligence, which is why she is today’s quote of the day.

“I think we are in an era of identity searching. So this idea that we have to attach to one identity over others… I don’t think we have to attach to one identity over others. I’m a mother, I’m a daughter, I was raised half in France and half in America, and so I have two cultures: I like to ski, I like [the] NFL .. .I would like us to become more varied and more diverse as a culture, as opposed to becoming more mono-focused.”

The above quote is from Foster’s 2018 interview with The Talks. While talking about “symbiosis” being a part of our identities, Foster explained that it’s natural, ideal even, to have more than one social or cultural identity. 

“… Just because I come from Los Angeles doesn’t mean that I don’t have an understanding of what it’s like to live in a small town,” Foster said. The actress believes that we’re more than our formative experiences and thinks we need to move away from the idea of a “mono-focused” culture.

Foster drew a parallel between diverse social identity and the rise of technology. While praising the benefits of technology that helps bring people closer together, Foster argued that “we have a level of consciousness that we have never seen before,” which leads to an appreciation for diversity.

“There is an awareness about human relationships and behaviors,” Foster stated, adding that that awareness feeds into the need to resonate with more than one facet of social identity. As technology has its limits, we need to tap into the “consciousness” of identity searching, and what it might mean for different people in an era where the world is more accessible than ever before.

• “There’s something really beautiful about turning 60 and suddenly waking up one day and not caring about all the things you cared about when you were 45 or 50. I’m really not interested in being the center of attention any more. What’s far more exciting is giving opportunities to other people.” — from a 2026 interview with The Irish Times

• “I find myself tapping people on the shoulder and apologizing about who I was when I was in my twenties, saying, ‘I can’t believe I was so self-involved and so unaware of my own privileges.’ I was a terrible friend because I was busy shooting. Unless you have that time as a regular person, you become stunted in so many ways. I accomplished a lot, but as a person, I was really behind. It’s a hard lesson to learn, because you have to look in the mirror and say, ‘I failed a lot of people, and I wasn’t the person I could have been.'” — from a 2023 interview with Elle

• “Some directors love cranes and CGI and spectacle, but that is not why I make movies. I feel like I make movies because there are things I have to say in order to figure out who I am or my place in the world, or for me to evolve as a person. But until you get to the end of your movie, you don’t always realize why you were obsessed with that particular thing.” — from a 2017 interview with The Guardian