I think a film is a failure if it doesn't have an emotional effect. That's the film's failure. Not if it doesn't deliver a message, but if it doesn't have emotional effect or visceral effect.

I love playing different characters and things that are challenging. I'm not interested in safety at all. That's what makes me get up in the morning.

Pain doesnt have a face and pain doesnt have a certain way of adjusting. Pain is universal.

I'm not married, nor do I want to be. I'm the loving kind but not the marrying kind, though I am romantic.

Too many people I've loved dearly have left this earth. And some I've lost are still here breathing the same air. That grief can be comparable if not worse in its consumption.

The roles that I feel I get, or handed to me, or whatever, are not that interesting. I don't think it's a problem that's specific to black women. I think it's a problem that's specific to movie-making in America.

Black women are supposed to be 'strong,' but the burden of carrying our race and carrying our families adds the pressure.