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" A lot of the issues today may not affect us personally, but we can't stay in our comfort zone when it comes to protecting our brothers and sisters. We have to get out there and use our voices for them as well. "

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" I don't know if I would be doing what I do without 'Eve's Bayou,' and I don't know if I would have the career that I have without working on 'Eve's Bayou.' The love for what I do, I found it in that project. "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Project

Career

Doing

" My mom is African-American, Native-American, Irish, and Creole, and my father is of Jewish, Russian, and Polish descent. It's made me who I am. Because of my diverse background, I think I can relate to many different people, different stories, and different communities. "

" I always said, 'Whenever I get pregnant, I'm going to embrace all of the body changes that happen.' My focus has not been on any sort of snap-back or anything like that, because your body won't be the same after giving birth, and if anything, that's something to be celebrated, embraced, and owned. "

" I'm a nature lover. "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Lover

Nature

" I'm told I'm a statistic. I'm told that my young black sisters are disease-ridden... but we are greater than what society tells us we are. "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Than

Society

" There's this notion, kind of like unspoken, that you can't live your dreams and be a mom. You can't have a career and be a mom. There's still that preconceived notion, and I reject that. "

" When I was 12 years old, I got involved with an organization called Artists for a New South Africa. One of its missions is to help with HIV/AIDS awareness. "

" I love to get in the library and just spend days researching characters. "

" I'm very grateful to have been able to work with so many talented filmmakers and actors during my career. I've learned so much from them. It's been my college, in a way. "

" I'm a research queen. "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Research

Queen

" I want to tell human stories not solely based on race. There are so many great actresses and actors that are out there, and I just want to see them do good work. "

" I'm such a huge fan of Gap! My mom used to dress me in Gap overalls that I would wear all the time, and now the idea of bringing my son into that tradition is so ironic and full-circle for me. "

" We got spoiled with 'Friday Night Lights.' Not every show is like that, and on other shows, if you try to bring that same truth or that same approach, the system of television doesn't always allow for that level of collaboration, which is unfortunate because the work would be richer. "

" I have a complex heritage: my mom is African American, and my dad is Jewish. Both were activists, and they met during the movement in the '70s. "

" If I have a jump rope and a resistance band, I can work out anywhere. Even without a jump rope. If you do 200 jumping jacks, then drop and do some crunches, and then do some squats, you're good. "

" I like the idea of matchmaking; I'm just not very good at it. It's too much pressure! "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Too Much

Pressure

" It's not very exciting to go to work to just have your character's identity being defined by her relationship with her male counterparts. "

" My siblings are so talented. My sister's a producer, and my brothers and I all write. "

" There's a lot of progress happening in TV. You have amazing shows like 'How to Get Away With Murder.' You have people like Shonda Rhimes, Lee Daniels with 'Empire,' and Jason Katims with 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Parenthood.' You have people behind the scenes writing complex women. "

" It is a beautiful thing to work on your relationship. "

" The real trendsetters are the ones who rebel. Those are the ones who everyone in fashion eventually follows. "

" They did laugh; they did fall in love. And while they were under incredibly oppressive conditions, they constantly were trying to steal pleasures. When you go back to the slave narratives, and you read books like the 'Bullwhip Days' or 'Incidents in the Life of the Slave Girl,' they will share what life was like, and it's a 365-degree view. "

" I think, as human beings, we try to hide our flaws and try to present this perfect person, this person we wish we were, to our spouse when that causes so many troubles. "

" With 'Underground,' we see that the wounds that we all, as a nation, inflicted upon our brothers and sisters during slavery have not been healed. "

" People look at you, and they think they know you. They think they can place you in a certain category by what they think they know about you. But there's so much more to all of us than what we know and what we see at face value. "

" I have respect for therapists in general, because they hear so many stories. It's a lot to hold and take in. "

" 'Full House' was the first time I had ever been in front of a live audience. I said a line I had rehearsed with my mom, and they laughed. It was wild. To have that energy of the live audience was like, Whaaat? Feeding off that live audience was, to a 4 or 5 year old, a high. "

" My mom bought me an 'Anne of Green Gables' journal. And I just remember thinking it was so cool, and I could write anything in it. "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Remember

Green

" Marriage is a work in progress, but it's beautiful. "

" I wouldn't even call myself a former child star. I was a child actor; there's a difference. "