If everyone is there to make a good film, everyone is down to earth, and everyone is there for the right reasons - the scale doesn't really matter I think.

I'm a New Yorker; I've paid my dues.

I had talked to my agent a lot over the years about not being interested in stereotypical "black films" [because] I didn't like the way they were representing black people over and over and over again in the same way.

Black women have kinky hair, and we think we have limitations on what we can do. It's interesting that people think, 'Oh this is the only thing they can do.' But if you have blonde, straight hair and don't change it for 20 years - nobody thinks about it. Nobody says anything!

I’ve basically been working really hard for the past couple years. And the nature of the film business is that movies come out when they come out, and these all just happen to be coming out at the same time.

That's my approach to makeup in general, highlight something, what you love about yourself, but don't cover anything up, or distract from what you actually look like.

When you're making an independent film and you care about it so much you do all the prep work beforehand.