It feels really good to embrace exactly who I am and be my sexy, to be my sexualized, to be my woman.

I've always seen myself for who I am, which is a lot of things. So, I guess that when I walk into a room, I bring all those things to a role, and I've always just simply seen myself as an actor.

And this is what was fascinating to me about 'The Help'; they were ordinary people who did extraordinary things.

It was hard, that confrontation scene [in "Fences"], that was a hard one. I felt like it was relentless, I never felt like I could just drop the ball when the coverage was on him or anything else.

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

That's why there's so much bad acting out there, because you could see actors watching themselves.

You have to understand being an actress, and being an African American actress of a certain hue, I think that you have to be bold with your choices. Even when you're not bold with your choices, have people see it as bold.