"Once you've found something you know how to do, it makes you feel you don't have to be intimidated by someone"
About this Quote
Competence is Sorvino's quiet antidote to intimidation, and it lands because it refuses the usual celebrity self-help gloss. She isn't selling “confidence” as a vibe; she’s describing it as a byproduct of craft. The line hinges on a small shift in power: once you know you can do a thing, other people stop reading as judges and start reading as peers - or at least as noise you can work through.
As an actress, Sorvino is talking from inside a profession built to manufacture insecurity. Auditions are controlled humiliation: strangers evaluate you in minutes, your body and voice become “market fit,” and authority often arrives wearing a lanyard and casual cruelty. In that environment, intimidation isn’t just personal anxiety; it’s a tool that keeps hierarchies stable. Her point is tactical: skill is portable. You can’t always control who has the room, but you can control whether you’ve built a muscle they can’t talk you out of.
The subtext is also gendered without announcing itself. For women in entertainment, intimidation frequently comes dressed up as expertise - the director who “knows what works,” the producer who “understands the business,” the older gatekeeper who implies you’re lucky to be there. Sorvino’s sentence reframes the game. Mastery doesn’t guarantee fairness, but it changes the negotiation. When you can do the work, you stop seeking permission to belong. You’re not fearless; you’re harder to push around.
As an actress, Sorvino is talking from inside a profession built to manufacture insecurity. Auditions are controlled humiliation: strangers evaluate you in minutes, your body and voice become “market fit,” and authority often arrives wearing a lanyard and casual cruelty. In that environment, intimidation isn’t just personal anxiety; it’s a tool that keeps hierarchies stable. Her point is tactical: skill is portable. You can’t always control who has the room, but you can control whether you’ve built a muscle they can’t talk you out of.
The subtext is also gendered without announcing itself. For women in entertainment, intimidation frequently comes dressed up as expertise - the director who “knows what works,” the producer who “understands the business,” the older gatekeeper who implies you’re lucky to be there. Sorvino’s sentence reframes the game. Mastery doesn’t guarantee fairness, but it changes the negotiation. When you can do the work, you stop seeking permission to belong. You’re not fearless; you’re harder to push around.
Quote Details
| Topic | Confidence |
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