“Ordinary people who are just kind of just going about their lives are transformed into heroes because they have the courage to put their voices out there. And I think that’s a powerful message in this time of political strife.”

I think sometimes you have to see a physical manifestation of your dream. Otherwise you have to hope, pray and try to conjure something in your mind to feel like it’s possible.

You can’t be hesitant about who you are.

I’ve been to acting school and I think that at the end of the day, when you just focus on the work and you’re comfortable with who you are, that at some point someone’s going to recognize your talent and give you an opportunity.

It’s time for people to see us, people of colour, for what we really are: complicated.

All you really need to do is shift people just a tiny bit for change to happen. It doesn’t have to be huge and humongous.

Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that’s inside of you.

One of the people I’ve always wanted to emulate in pursuing that dream was Meryl Streep, in terms of the different types of roles she’s been able to play and the number of different stories she’s been able to tell.

I would love to be remembered as a person who used her life to inspire others in any way, shape or form.

In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful, white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can’t seem to get there now. I can’t seem to get over that line.

And that’s what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves – parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it’s pretty spectacular.

I really wanted to show [in fences] a marriage that is working. Not perfect, but working.

Your internal dialogue has got to be different from what you say. And, you know, in film, hopefully that registers and speaks volumes. It’s always the unspoken word and what’s happening behind someone’s eyes that makes it so rich.

They say, ‘To serve is to love,’ and I think to serve is to heal, too.

And “classically not beautiful” is a fancy term for saying ugly. And denouncing you. And erasing you.

I guess they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention” because you have two stark choices when you find yourself in a really desperate situation. You can either fold and cave-in to it or you can become really passionate about getting out of it.

Eating bread in Hollywood is a no-no!