Each character has their own challenges. The challenge to doing one scene is your whole history of who you are and your relationships, you only have this one shot.

August [Wilson] elevates in us is the average man in a way that is heroic and real and human. What you do is you sit with our pathology, you invest in our humanity. We're not walking around like walking symbols like we mean something larger. We're just moving throughout our lives and that's the power of the piece. That's revolutionary.

I talk to women all the time and try to impart wisdom.

I don't think most people understand acting, even the people who call themselves savvy, even actors.

I think that you always want to gravitate towards people who absolutely are great at what they do and go for authenticity.

I do believe that there are African Americans who have thick accents. My mom has a thick accent; my relatives have thick accents. But sometimes you have to adjust when you go into the world of film, TV, theatre, in order to make it accessible to people.

[Denzel Washington] was rustling with something and when he came back it was with a word about loving myself and the body that I'm in because I was still going on and on about the weight thing. I just liked that, because what people don't understand is that so much of what blocks us as actors is so personal.