I have a new respect for filmmakers, that's for sure, 'cause it's not easy. If I'm allowed to, I'll be directing for the rest of my life. I love the process.

What's a celebrity anyway? Paris Hilton's a celebrity. I'm just a working actor.

What we did [shooting "Fences"] was we got young students from Carnegie Mellon, the acting and theater students, and we had them as our understudies. I told them, "You have to be off book and be ready. If Viola [Davis] has to leave you have to jump in."

I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood.

My mother never gave up one me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.

I'm a parent. I think we're responsible for the problems that young people have. I believe that. I don't blame them for any of it. I blame us for what we haven't done as mothers and fathers, not sticking together as a unit.

If I am a cup maker, I'm interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.