Anytime you put a movie out it's subject to such scrutiny and such criticism.

I never put myself in that box of you're an Oscar winner so you can only do this or that. That's one award, one night, and it does not define my career or it does not define me as an artist. I never wanted to get put in that Oscar box because that's a lonely place to be.

There's a place in me that can really relate to being the underdog. I'm always fighting to overcome the obstacle. I can really understand what's that about.

I've become really comfortable with my sexuality and making no excuses for it anymore.

When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner.

In Monster's Ball I went nude, which was scary, but I took the chance and that's how I like to approach my career.

I always had to prove myself through my actions. Be a cheerleader. Be class president. Be the editor of the newspaper.