My first exploration through art was really through music - I've trained classically with piano for about ten years.

My thing is that if you don't really connect to something or see that it's going to be something you're going to be proud of, I wouldn't do it.

Personally, especially as a young black woman, I didn't think that Los Angeles was a place for me to start. There's a certain type that they go for or don't.

My mom was really busy when I was growing up, but she did a really good job in terms of balancing her home life with her professional life. She basically took me everywhere.

There are a lot of celebrities that I think can get a little bit distracted by the way that our society views celebrity. All of a sudden, the film becomes about, "Come see this celebrity!" I'm not interested in that. I want to see a story.

William Shakespeare was a brilliant writer and he only wrote the truth. So, if I dont believe it, I have to work really hard to see what that truth is so that I do; thats the only way I can make it believable for the audience.

The way I work emotionally is: I don't ever try to cry. I try not to, which is what for me produces organic emotion.