It would be great to bust through and make history. But what's more important is the opportunity to continue to get roles that are complicated and wonderful, to be a part of the narrative and to get to do what our counterparts are able to do. It doesn't just stop at holding an award.

Let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.

I think sometimes what people miss about black people is that we're complicated.

It's time for people to see us, people of colour, for what we really are: complicated.

You can't be hesitant about who you are.

I think that's why August [Wilson] named her Rose [in "Fences"]; I really do. She's a rose in her sweetness and her kindness and in everything else, even her anger towards the end.

I really wanted to show [in "fences"] a marriage that is working. Not perfect, but working.