If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up.

It's very important that people understand that for refugees to come into the USA is very difficult. What upsets me about the whole situation is that people don't know the difference between a migrant and a refugee; they don't have respect for what people are coming from - the people who against it - and they have completely forgotten this is what built our country, the diversity. When it is put forward that masses of people are dangerous, and the actual numbers and the situation are proven to be completely the opposite of the way they're presented publicly, it's horrible.

I'm having to do a lot to keep my clothes on and not be cast in girlfriend roles. Some women will say, "I don't want to be a man - I want the opportunities I can get as a woman." Women have a certain sexuality, and I think their bodies are beautiful and I'm not embarrassed to explore that in a film. But there are things you get offered that are vulgar and violent - just like there's a side of me that's vulgar and violent.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you're solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion

If you don't get out of the box you've been raised in, you won't understand how much bigger the world is. You might never find out that you are useful for all the right reasons - and not all those stupid things that people tell you you're useful for.

I like everything. Boyish girls, girlish boys, the heavy and the skinny. Which is a problem when I'm walking down the street.

There doesn't need to be a God for me.