[On writing to Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple:] I told her I would play a Venetian blind, dirt on the floor, anything.

You couldn't always trust the history books. They told a diluted truth, a truth by committee.

I had such a good time doing that movie [Sister Act 2]. My daughter's in that movie. It was a fun film to do. And it shocked a lot of people, because they loved it, and they take it with them.

There are roles I am never considered for. Meryl Streep roles, let's say. Why not? I really wanted to do 'Ironweed,' for example, because the depression era in this country was one of the best for multiracial people, because everybody was poor. Everybody lived in the tents, and under buildings, and under gratings, together.

I'd like somebody to get rid of the death tax. That's what I want. I don't want to get taxed just because I died. I just don't think it's right. If I give something to my kid, I already paid the tax. Why should I have to pay it again because I died?

You have to believe in yourself in spite of what other people believe.

My family is Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and Catholic. I don't believe in man-made religions.