I never, in my wildest dreams, could I have thought that the first role I get out of school would lead to an Oscar nomination.

It's great to have something to dress up for. You know, I spent three years in slacks at drama school, so now I like putting a dress on.

I'm pretty awesome at making salad dressings.

Even in my dreams of being an actor, my dream was not in the celebrity. My dream was in the work that I wanted to do.

It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's.

I definitely intend to create my own work in the future so that we don't have to keep saying we don't have work for black women. But right now I don't know what's next. I hope that there are more opportunities to come my way.

I would love to have a career that's governed by the material; I always want to be part of stories that I feel are worthwhile.