We know the road of lack of recognition, of people telling us that we can't headline a movie because black women don't translate overseas, that every time we try to break the glass ceiling, people say no, people push back. And it's everything that people don't see out there.

All you really need to do is shift people just a tiny bit for change to happen. It doesn't have to be huge and humongous.

I don't have any time to stay up all night worrying about what someone who doesn't love me has to say about me.

I don’t want anyone putting any limits on me.

Each role has its own different challenges.

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

I look back at pictures of myself and I remember thinking, "I was so fat when I was growing up. I was 165 pounds when I graduated from high school. I was a mess".