Actresses

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has been acting for most of her life, including playing Annie on Broadway, the young bimbo in L.A. Story, and a fed-up fiancee in Honeymoon in Vegas. This is her fourth season starring in the HBO hit series Sex and the City, as Carrie, a columnist who writes about the sexual mores of New Yorkers. Terry recorded this interview with Parker live before an audience at Martha's Vineyard in July.

Lorraine Bracco's character on HBO's The Sopranos has the unenviable job of psychoanalyzing mob boss Tony Soprano. Bracco's career has plenty of mob connections: She received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Now she has written a memoir, On the Couch.

Juliette Binoche plays an aging movie star who's about to appear in a play opposite an infamous young Hollywood actress. It's a hall of mirrors that sounds convoluted in the telling, but plays easily.

The British import Doll & Em is another inside-Hollywood comedy from HBO; Emily Mortimer and her real-life friend Dolly Wells play outsize versions of themselves.

Singer, actor, writer, director and producer Barbra Streisand plays a well-meaning if overbearing Jewish mom in The Guilt Trip. The star says her own mother both encouraged her talents and was jealous of them.

The comedian spent seven seasons on Saturday Night Live and went on to star in the raunchy comedy Bridesmaids. Now she's exploring what's funny about parenting in the new movie Friends with Kids and the TV series Up All Night.

Margo Martindale plays Mags Bennett, the leader of a law-defying Appalachian family in the FX series Justified. The Emmy-nominated actress talks about playing Mags — as well as her other roles in Paris, Je T'Aime and Million Dollar Baby.

This week on Fresh Air, we're marking the year's end by revisiting some of the most memorable conversations we've had in 2011. This interview was originally broadcast on September 12, 2011.

Margo Martindale plays Mags Bennett, the leader of a law-defying Appalachian family in the FX series Justified. The Emmy-nominated actress talks about playing Mags — as well as her other roles in Paris, Je T'Aime and Million Dollar Baby.

Fresh Air's critic-at-large John Powers was raised to dislike Elizabeth Taylor. But he soon fell for her charms. He remembers the legendary actress who was a siren on-screen -- and a committed supporter of HIV/AIDS research.