You don't need to follow trends to be stylish.
It's true about the eyes being the window to the soul. Your face can be etched with worry, and twisted by ageing, but the eyes tell the true story of who you are.
I think there's nothing more amazing than helping people every day.
I'm always interested in telling stories that have a message because I really do believe that film is so powerful.
Actors need steely determination. It's a tough profession with plenty of knocks along the way. You have to be very determined and never take 'no' for an answer.
Powerful women are the most interesting to play.
I cry at random things, like a flower, or someone giving me a present, or my sister giving me a nice hug.
Without education, you really can't dream as a child.
If you educate children, then they are capable of so much - you empower them, you give them choices, and you enable them to create the lives that they dream for themselves.
It's more instinctive to want revenge, but we are also capable of immense amounts of forgiveness and love and a compassion that extends even to those who have brutalized us.
The education is the answer to everything, really, and on so many different levels. The minutiae of life require analytical skills that you learn in being educated, an ability to navigate the very systems that constitute life. They all require some degree of education, and if you don't get it, you're at a real disadvantage.
I have many different sides; I can be the life and soul of the party - or a wallflower.
I wanted to play roles which offered new ways of viewing black women and black people in general- and I have done that. And I have always, whether I needed to pay the rent or not, I've always turned down roles which I thought were stereotypical. And so when I look at my body of work in that respect, I am really happy. Because I feel my work does say something positive and that was what I always set out to do.
I like to believe that we all pray to the same god.
I usually look in my eyes to tell the truth of how I'm feeling that day.
As an artist, I am interested in telling stories that haven't been told before, stories that are going to affect people, and also stories that shine light on areas of history that haven't had light shined on them before.
When I have finished a job, done all the promotion, and it's been received well. Then I can allow myself the luxury of a break, and chilling out with my family and friends, and taking a nice break knowing I've done a good job.
Acting is a career without a safety net, because it's not like a professional job where every year you hope to be promoted, and get a sense of career stability. There is never any stability in this business.
As a society we should be encouraging people out of the debt-culture mindset, not promoting it.
I try to be upbeat. I read this book which tells you to write down everything that you're grateful for each day. Now I'm constantly noticing all the little things that make me joyful.
I can't impersonate someone. That is not what I do. I can only take someone's essence and create a character out of that.
Hollywood 'friends' are only after one thing. They're looking out for the next big thing, and they don't want to miss out on you just in case.
At Cambridge, it was the weirdest culture. Everyone pretended they didn't do any work, yet it was so competitive.
You don't want to just preach to people; you want to get them emotionally involved, and I think you do that with a wonderful human story about one person's struggle.
I'm afraid that what most people don't know about me is that I'm very close to my brother and sister, who are 16 and 13, and I think I'm a pretty good big sister to them.
