Cicely Tyson was my inspiration to become an actor.

I can be busy for three years and you may not even know what I'm busy doing because you only see me in a few scenes here or there, but I've been working my tail off because there's just not a lot.

Each role has its own different challenges.

Every artist, true artist, struggles with an overwhelming sense of feeling like you're not worthy.

I can't deal with actors! I can't deal with myself. We're neurotic and miserable... I love doing what I'm doing, but while I'm doing it, I'm miserable.

Sometimes people come in as a director, and they just want the result, and they barely want that to tell you the truth. Sometimes directors barely talk to the actors; they are so focused on the cinematic elements of the movie, getting the shot and getting the lighting right or getting the CGI effects right and all of that, and they just trust that you are just going to do what you do.

We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.