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Daily Inspiration Quote by Rooney Mara

"I'm not at all funny. I can do dark comedy pretty well, but straight-up comedy, I don't know. I'm much darker. I've been like that since I was 3 years old"

About this Quote

Rooney Mara’s “I’m not at all funny” is less self-deprecation than boundary-setting: a refusal of the press-tour demand that every actor be charming, quippy, and broadly “relatable.” She isn’t denying humor so much as narrowing its wavelength. By naming “dark comedy” as her lane, she’s telling you where her instincts live: not in punchlines that ask for approval, but in the uneasy laugh that leaks out when a scene brushes against dread, shame, or moral mess.

The line works because it flips the usual celebrity confession. Actors often insist they’re “just goofy” off-camera to soften an intense public image. Mara does the opposite. She leans into the persona audiences already project onto her from roles like Lisbeth Salander or the haunted interiority of Carol and A Ghost Story: controlled, watchful, slightly unplaceable. “Straight-up comedy” becomes shorthand for a specific kind of social performance - speed, brightness, likability - and her “I don’t know” signals not incompetence but disinterest.

“I’ve been like that since I was 3 years old” adds a sly myth-making flourish. It’s comedic in its own way: the image of a toddler already calibrated to the macabre. The subtext is identity as temperament, not branding - or, at least, branding that sells itself as temperament. In a culture that treats humor as a moral credential, Mara’s claim is almost defiant: my funny isn’t friendly, and I’m not here to make it so.

Quote Details

TopicDark Humor
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Mara, Rooney. (2026, January 16). I'm not at all funny. I can do dark comedy pretty well, but straight-up comedy, I don't know. I'm much darker. I've been like that since I was 3 years old. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-at-all-funny-i-can-do-dark-comedy-pretty-83807/

Chicago Style
Mara, Rooney. "I'm not at all funny. I can do dark comedy pretty well, but straight-up comedy, I don't know. I'm much darker. I've been like that since I was 3 years old." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-at-all-funny-i-can-do-dark-comedy-pretty-83807/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm not at all funny. I can do dark comedy pretty well, but straight-up comedy, I don't know. I'm much darker. I've been like that since I was 3 years old." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-at-all-funny-i-can-do-dark-comedy-pretty-83807/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Rooney Add to List
Rooney Mara on Dark Comedy and Artistic Temperament
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About the Author

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Rooney Mara (born April 17, 1985) is a Actress from USA.

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