My mother never wanted me to focus on my physical self. She always said that beauty is what you do.

I would say a magical thing happened on when the big 40th birthday came. I felt like a light kind of just went off, and maybe that's because I felt like at 40 I had the right to say and be who I wanted to be, say what I wanted to say, and accept what I didn't want to accept.

Blackness is a state of mind and I identify with the black community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a room, people see a black woman, they don't see a white women. So out of that reason alone, I identify more with the black community.

I'm just going to live my life and be who I am.

I think my feet are my sexiest body part. People I find really sexy include Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and my mum.

Here's the thing - you can't be careful about what you pick because what looks like on paper is going to be a great script has often turned out to be a disaster, so there's no way to know what's going to work or to pick the right thing.

I've pretty much learned I can let that [being black] hinder me if I want to ... or I can fight for different kinds of roles.