I think as an American society, when we're paying too many taxes or dealing with war, we don't want to see sad things at the movies.

I've witnessed racism all my life. And of course there's racism and discrimination in Hollywood. You go for a part and they say, 'Oh, we really liked her, she's amazing, but we wanted to go with something more traditional'. As if I'm not a traditional American!

To be seen and to be respected for my work and acknowledged as a true American Latina... means a lot to me.

I do believe in us as actors and directors and writers and producers and also as movie-goers. We have much more power than we believe we have. Without our ticket, studios can't make traditional decisions.

I love women. I worship women. Don’t want to be any other woman but myself.

I felt a combination of happiness and humility [ to People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People ]. At the same time there's a lot of pressure, because people can approach you whose intentions aren't in the best place, and they can say things that are very hurtful. And on one of those days when you wake up and you just go and get your coffee without worrying about looking your best, you make yourself vulnerable to someone who'd say something like, "You look awful for being on the Top 100 list."

I grew up loving action movies and films that were set in supernatural, unimaginable places. So I take being a woman in the film industry who is able to do action movies very seriously because I'm making the kind of movies that I wanted to watch as I was a kid and that inspired me and are the reason as to why I am here.