Even in my music, I am always searching for big, universal things - ways that you can sort of reach outside the norm of what you are doing.

Unfortunately, there's a lack of roles for women of color, so you actually have to be the engineer creating some of those roles.

One thing I've learned is be comfortable in your skin, and more importantly, be comfortable in your shoes.

I'm an actor and I am looking for roles where I can continue to evolve, and things that are challenging. I gravitate to the roles, not necessarily television or film. It's just the fact that, for me, the most interesting roles have been in television.

I think that young women and little girls need to see that they don't have to be the damsel in distress. They don't have to not show their strength. They don't have to be whatever the stereotype is or the tropes that we go to in our minds.

I'm glad that I get to take my final walk as the princess of 2012. ...there's nothing wrong with winning an Oscar!

There are moments where you stop living, if you stop changing, and if you stop seeking growth of some sort.