I was raised by drag queens, practically ... my mother died when I was four-years-old, so I was effectively raised by a bunch of different people. A lot of those people were friends of my sister, Kathleen, who had all these gay friends. She would baby-sit me everyday, and she would take me over to her friend's houses with all kinds of things going on: tucking, and eyebrow drawing, waxing, all sorts of things. I was literally raised by gay men.

I'm not saving anybody's life, I'm not a teacher, I'm not working for UNICEF. I don't think I'm some big deal.

For me, being able to work with somebody who I don't have to translate my experience to all the time - that's important, because I'm not ­having to walk someone down the path of racial understanding to tell a story about a woman of color.

If I'm bringing joy to people and entertaining people as an actor, then I should be grateful for that and act accordingly, you know?

Acting can be an amazingly cathartic thing - especially for young girls.

My daily schedule is quite hectic, but I have to put my health first in order to be the best mom and wife I can be.

~I got pregnant, and I was like, 'Oh God, it worked! Oh no!' Chris [Ivery, her husband] and I were super happy, then I got terrified! Will I know how to do everything right? Of course, nobody does everything right, but as long as your baby is the priority, that's the best you can do.~