Patricia Clarkson, Cairo Time

At 50, Patricia Clarkson, who has established herself as one of American cinema's most versatile actors, takes her rightful place center stage in Ruba Nadda's sixteenth film, Cairo Time. An Oscar nominee for her role as a dying wife in 2004's Pieces of April, Clarkson's breakthrough was as a Fassbinder-style self-destructive German diva in 1998's High Art. The New Orleans-born-and-raised performer, who has worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, discusses life, art and staying alive in the Hollywood scheme of things (20 minutes).

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