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" For me, it's always about the work and the stories I'm telling and the slices of life I feel should be illuminated. "

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" I think people need to watch 'Chi-Raq' because you need to know what's happening in your back yard. "

" When you just come into a show that's already established, you feel that they're family, and they have a way of doing things and running things. "

" I really feel like the stars have aligned many ways, many times for me. I have been blessed to play some awesome roles and nuanced and meaningful characters. "

" I'm like any other girl: I see the Instagram posts and the Tumblr stuff. I'm inspired by what my fellow girls are doing. "

" When they asked, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' I said, 'I want to be a model and an actress.' They said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because I can look good and get paid to do it.' That's the kind of kid I was. "

" It was not hard for me to find guidance and motivation. I'm very blessed, and my parents were always so supportive of myself and my brother. Whatever you wanted to do, you just had to give 110 percent. So whatever that was, they supported it. "

" The person that inspired me throughout most of my childhood was Angela Bassett. "

" Why aren't there films being made that tell ethnically diverse stories? Or why is it so impossible to allow a person of color to add their texture and their essence to a role that is not ethnically specific? I don't know why it's a novel or risky idea to consider making a film look like how our world actually looks today. "

" As a girl, I remember looking up to pop singers, and they all had long, straight weaves and light skin. And I thought, 'That's what I have to look like if I'm going to be fierce and sexy and all those things.' "

" I've wanted to be an actress my whole life, and the - none of the women I aspired to be like had natural hair. "

" When I choose a role, what I'm looking for is the ability is to tell our stories. Me being a black woman, that's just a given. It's going to be a part of any role I do, making sure I tell it truthfully and nuanced and in a way that many people can relate to. "

" I've had the struggling actor experience. At one point in New York, I was holding four jobs, including bottle service girl, while I was trying to break into acting. "

" I want to continue to strive towards deepening my relationship with God and finding peace in whatever trials or circumstances I may be given. "

" I went straight from filming the second season of 'Survivor's Remorse,' and the creators over there were so supportive in letting me go early so I could film 'Chi-Raq.' And that was an amazing experience. "

" When you have filmmakers like Justin Simien, writers, producers, actresses like Lena Waithe, who are people of color, they're creating their own content and saying, 'You know what? We're not going to wait on someone else to tell our story. We're going to do it ourselves. You can be a part of it or not.' "

" My dad, bless his heart, always told me I was beautiful, so I was never self-conscious in that way. But when you look at the images on TV, you think you need to look like that in order to be sexy. "

" I love period dramas. "

" Every time I get a role, or the opportunity to explore a role, I look at it, and I think, 'What is the story we're trying to tell here?' "

" When I looked at 'Dear White People,' you have four African-American students who are all very different and who are trying to figure out who they are. They're dealing with identity issues and crises. That is exciting to me, to see African-American young people on a page, on a screen, who are so diverse and whose stories are all so different. "

" In my junior year of high school, I went to a boarding school for the arts: a school called the Governor's School for The Arts and Humanities. It was basically a mini-Juilliard - an intense training conservatory for the arts. "

" I went to this arts high school in Greenville, S.C. In speech class, the teacher, a white man, would say, 'You're talking ghetto. Don't talk ghetto.' I'm not only offended, but I'm confused because while there's nothing wrong with people who come from the projects or the ghetto, that's actually not my experience. "

" You look at 'Survivor's Remorse.' Or 'Blackish.' Or Issa Rae's brilliant, funny 'Insecure,' which started out on YouTube but is now on HBO. And you see multifaceted representations of the African-American experience. It's insanely exciting. "

" I think, no matter who you are, at some point in your life you've probably said, 'OK, well, who am I, and where do I fit in?' "

" You have to really understand and appreciate who are you are and know who you are and what you have to offer people - not just a man but people! This helps you have something to stand on. Know your value and what makes you valuable so you can always go back to this. "

" Every time I see my friends on a billboard, I'm so excited. If God can do it for me or them, he can do it for everybody. "

" It feels good to be a role model for little girls who don't often see natural hair on the red carpet. "

" As black women, we're miles behind our white counterparts in being offered the space to create and craft female characters in major blockbuster films. "

" I try to be very particular about the roles I choose and what they say and put into the universe. I try to do my part. "

" In working with Nick Cannon, he's such a generous guy, a generous actor, and he was very protective. "

" I was a wild child tomboy. "