One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body. I got tired of hating myself.

I would like to continue acting. I tell people I can't go back to real life. I have to see how far I can go with it. I am serious about it, and I believe that it's my calling. I think it's what my life's path is. It's what God has given me. It's what I was born to do. And so I must do it.

I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every morning, and if I don't like myself, there's no reason to even live the life.

I don't think my brand of self-confidence and self-assuredness can come from an outside source. It's got to come from me.

People want to know everyone for a lot of different reasons. It doesn't have to be anything as big as an Oscar nomination. It could be a brand new job. People see their opportunity. And, when you're winning, everyone loves a winner.

People always ask me, 'You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?'. It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.

One of my favorite - well, my favorite, favorite, absolute favorite event to go to is Alfre Woodard has a party that I call the blacktress party. It's, like, black actresses that either have been nominated for an Oscar or should have been, and it sort of is just a night where we all get in a room and we get to celebrate each other.