Improvisation helps because you get what's on the page and you make it a little more palatable to your tongue. And that's the beauty of creating and being spontaneous. That's the way I love to work.

My first big heartbreak proved to me that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

It's an important moment [win an Emmy]. I just feel like I want it to happen tonight, either for myself or Viola [Davis] so we can get past it, so it's not big news anymore. I mean, it is 2015. We have a black president.

A lot of times characters are combinations of people I come across in life. I people-watch a lot.

There is always going to be love versus hate; we struggle with that as humans within ourselves every day; as a society, we have to struggle. So when you wake up, you have to decide which side you're going to be on. Hopefully, that side is positive, so you do the work and hope that your legacy will help change things.

I don't think about other people. They are not walking in my shoes. They are not paying my bills. What makes me happy is when I do what I like to do, for me.

I'm pretty much the same. I'm consistent. There aren't two mes. There is only one me. I can only be myself, and that's who I always am whether I'm at home or on the carpet.