My job as an artist is to present the material. My job as a woman is to receive from it what I need.

Where I'm from, you learned about God before you learned to read and write. Our faith is what grounds us.

I didn't realize that diets don't work, and I did not want to diet. I didn't want to do anything that required dieting.

You never write a speech in advance because if you don't get to use it, you'll be heartbroken.

There are enough negative images of Black women out there and I did not want to portray Dorothy Vaughn in any stereotype. I wanted to make sure that her integrity was preserved.

As an actor, I've learned to become a detective. You have to figure out who that person is. If the character is a thief, you have to figure out what makes them a thief. Whatever the prevailing idiosyncrasy is, I have to find it in the script.

I can only live in my truth.