Sometimes in the black culture, being raised as an independent woman is misconstrued as someone who doesn’t need a man. I think that’s wrong. I think we all need someone.
Let’s say black, the whole black religious experience, here, is very impressive to me, because when I first arrived I realized that people carry their faith with so much pride.
Colloquialism is the toughest part of what we do, as foreign actors, because there are certain sayings that you guys have that absolutely don’t make any sense.
I love the fact that we, as black people, carry our faith with us. We share it and embrace it and love it and talk about it because we talk about everything else and why not that and that was the first impression that I had that really touched me.
When you work as actors in this business, you spend a lot of time apart. That’s why a lot of marriages fail. It’s not because of Hollywood, it’s because you don’t spend time together.
I was looking to show people I could act. I was looking for something that would take me away from the whole hunk riding off into the sunset thing that people wanted me to play after Brown Sugar.
We shoot 12 to 14 hours a day. To do all that physical stuff yourself, you have to be on a nutritional plan. I have six or seven meals a day. I eat every hour and a half, and make sure it’s all clean. I have absolutely no sugar at all.
We are willing to weather the storm of multiple failures to achieve a goal. We’re so convinced in the destination that we are able to let go of the reins and give it to God.
Everybody goes through obstacles and problems and issues and turn their backs on people that we are fond of and love just because we hurt; and everybody goes through that.
I came to America because of a tennis scholarship. I really wanted to get away because I was really frustrated about my injury so my mother said, “Go to America for four months and just open your eyes and see that there’s more things than tennis.” That’s what happened.
