The choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years.
CICELY TYSONThe choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years.
CICELY TYSONUnless a piece really said something, I had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some purpose here.
CICELY TYSONChallenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.
CICELY TYSONMy mother was an introvert and quite religious. And we were brought up in the church. And when she learned that I wanted to act, she simply said: ‘You cannot live here and do that.’
CICELY TYSONIn my early years, there were a number of experiences that made me decide I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. There were a number of issues I wanted to address. And I wanted to use my career as a platform.
CICELY TYSONOne of the things I have always said about the man-woman relationship is that I don’t want anybody to walk ahead of me, and I don’t want anybody to walk behind me. I want a man who will walk along beside me. And that’s how I feel about equal rights.
CICELY TYSONWe have to support our own films. If we don’t, how can we expect others to support them?
CICELY TYSONHow do you project a character if you don’t have a sense of where she is from? I’ve always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.
CICELY TYSONWhen I told my mother that I wanted to be an actress, she said, you can’t live here and do that, and so I moved out. I was determined to prove her wrong because she was so sure that I was going to go astray. And that’s the juice that kept me going.
CICELY TYSONI didn’t want to be an actress; I never thought of being an actress because, as children, there were three of us – I was the middle child – and we spent our time in church from Sunday morning to Saturday night.
CICELY TYSONOne lady told me that before she saw ‘Sounder’ she didn’t believe black people could love each other, have deep relationships in the same way as white people.
CICELY TYSONNow, I am perfectly willing to just enjoy my career by choosing roles simply because I consider them to be a challenge and doing the best possible job I can.
CICELY TYSONAge is just a number. Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possibly ever have.
CICELY TYSONThe gratification comes, for me, in the doing of it. And once I’ve done it, I can’t do anything about it if it’s good or if it’s bad.
CICELY TYSONI don’t think you can measure wealth in dollars and cents. I really don’t believe that at all because there are some things that money cannot buy. One of them is health. And the other is security in your relationships and friends.
CICELY TYSONYou never know what motivates you.
CICELY TYSON