'Women Are About So Much More': Sally Field Refuses To Take On These Types Of Acting Roles

It hardly feels hyperbolic to call Sally Field one of the most accomplished actors in history. After all, she has a pair Academy Awards to her name, having won the best actress Oscar twice — first in 1980, for "Norma Rae," and again in 1985, for "Places in the Heart." A hat trick wasn't to be, sadly, even though Field did secure a third Oscar nomination in the form of a best supporting actress nod for "Lincoln" in 2013. To that end, Sally Field's stunning transformation certainly didn't end with her two Academy Awards. She went on to star in numerous high-profile films, to say nothing of her extensive small-screen career, which includes Field's Emmy-winning performance in "Brothers & Sisters." But make no mistake, the esteemed actor isn't someone who's just going to accept any role that comes her way. And she's been very clear that there's one type of character she has zero interest in playing.

During a May 2026 interview with People, Field explained that throughout her lengthy acting career, she's made a conscious effort to avoid playing female characters whose primary motivation is winning the romantic attention of a man. "I never take to stories about women that are trying to find a man. I didn't like it then, and it doesn't appeal to me now," Sally Field, who has quite the relationship history herself, confirmed. The Oscar winner offered a fairly simple reason as to why those types of roles aren't for her. "I think women are about so much more. Life is so much more complicated than that," she argued. And as far as we can tell, Field has always walked the walk with respect to this principle.

Notably, Sally Field's May 2026 interview with People wasn't the first time she discussed actively avoiding roles that she feels pigeonhole female actors. In fact, in a separate chat with Parade just one month prior, Sally Field discussed turning down classic movie "The First Wives Club" because she felt there was "more" for older women to say. The Oscar winner was initially eyed to play the third lead in the hit 1996 comedy, opposite Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn. Of course, the role ultimately went to fellow legend Diane Keaton instead. Recalling her decision to turn the movie down, during a 2023 interview with People, Field admitted, "Maybe it would have been fun, but they were all so musical, and I'm not. And the movie wouldn't have been the same." 

While speaking to Parade just three years later, however, she provided an entirely different explanation. "I have always had a problem with older women either wanting to get a date or looking to like, you know, have more sex with their husband," Field confessed. "Or I just feel like there's more for women to say, so that was just never my cup of tea." In general, the actor has never been shy about when a particular role isn't to her liking. For example, though Field starred as Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May in 2012's "The Amazing Spider-Man" and its 2014 sequel, she later expressed disappointment with the character's story, or lack thereof. "It's not my kind of movie," Field acknowledged to Howard Stern in 2016. "It's really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it. And you work it as much as you can, but [...] You can't [...] put 10 pounds of s**t in a five-pound bag."