The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active.
You have to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow.
I’m attracted to things that make me want to be a better person.
Octavia Spencer
One thing I’ve learned is be comfortable in your skin, and more importantly, be comfortable in your shoes.
I can only be the best version of myself and understand that the only way that we as a people can heal is to understand that the next person’s journey may not be your own, but it doesn’t mean that you have to marginalize them in any way.
The things that scare you only make you better and stronger.
I can only live in my truth.
I just know that the one thing that we all have in common is challenges. No one lives a challenge free life.
You cannot live to please everyone else. You have to edify, educate and fulfill your own dreams and destiny, and hope that whatever your art is that you’re putting out there, if it’s received, great, I respect you for receiving it. If it’s not received, great, I respect you for not.
As you make your way along life’s tumultuous highways, it’s important to note that you should always carry a map, have plenty of fuel in the tank, and take frequent rest stops.
You have to create your own path and I’m up to the challenge.
Our challenges make us unique, and how we deal with them makes us unique.
I don’t think you learn as much about yourself when you are moving forwards as when you have fallen backwards. That’s when you really learn who you are. And reach for the things that have propelled you forward and made you a better person.
To be silent is to be passive.
I have experienced loss in my life, but the thing that brings you back is your faith.
You just keep moving forward and doing what you do, and hope that it resonates with people. And if it doesn’t, you just keep moving on until you find a project that does.
I think that young women and little girls need to see that they don’t have to be the damsel in distress. They don’t have to not show their strength. They don’t have to be whatever the stereotype is or the tropes that we go to in our minds.
At 21, you can live life with reckless abandon, as reckless as your abandon is. Then, at 30, there’s something there are the supposed to be’s. You’re like, “I’m supposed to be doing this. I’m supposed to be doing that.” You start measuring your life by what you think you’re supposed to be doing. Having recently turned 40, it’s like, “What the hell?! Why am I worried about what I’m supposed to be doing? What do I want to do?” You become fine with wherever the road takes you.
My faith is tested daily.
Everything happens when it’s supposed to.
There are enough negative images of Black women out there and I did not want to portray Dorothy Vaughn in any stereotype. I wanted to make sure that her integrity was preserved.
I’m an Oscar nominee. I love saying that. Whatever happens, I’m going to sing that ‘I’m an Oscar nominee’ part.
Let’s just say that I have a tendency if I am uncomfortable in a situation to speak my mind.
Only when you find the courage to say something to someone that might influence a change in your behavior, does that behavior change.
As an actor, I’ve learned to become a detective. You have to figure out who that person is. If the character is a thief, you have to figure out what makes them a thief. Whatever the prevailing idiosyncrasy is, I have to find it in the script.
