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" I grew up in Chicago, but when I was 12, I came to New York because I was doing an episode of 'Law & Order.' "

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" You can do anything as long as you don't stop believing. When it is meant to be, it will be. You just have to follow your heart. "

Follow Your Heart

" We need to stop separating ourselves by how dark or how light we are. "

" As you age, you start to realize that your emotions are in your hands and not someone else's. Once you put them in someone else's hands, that's when you give them the power, and you can't change it. Only they can change it. "

" Comedians like to see people smile. With acting, I love giving people a feeling, an emotion. I like to give people a feeling. When they come away from my scene, I want them to think. "

" I love music and I love acting. I always keep that in the forefront, not all the other distractions around me. "

" I'm totally normal. I love watching movies and hanging out with my friends at my house. I still go to the mall; I love to text and go on my computer. I'm totally normal - sounds kind of boring, right? "

" I love a lot of these older actresses, like Cicely Tyson, who played Kunta Kinte's mother in 'Roots.' She was really great, and I like seeing her because every movie she plays, she plays a strong character. As a kid, she was really inspiring to me. "

" I always try to set a positive example for my generation and promote confidence. "

" There've been times where, like when I auditioned for 'Akeelah,' I think in the first audition I was a little bit afraid because it was, you know, I had seen girls in there that I had seen on TV before, and I was like, 'Man, I might as well just walk out of here now because I'm just a newcomer,' and this and that. "

" I named my album 'So Uncool' because it defies the ordinary: you're different from everyone else. It's like, being uncool makes you cool because you're different! "

" My father's a deacon, my mother's a choir director, so I grew up in the church and singing in the choir, begging my mom if I could have a solo. "

" I love Instagram! I like LaLa Anthony and Rihanna's photos. They always have great photos. "

" When people think of me initially, they remember me as 'Akeelah.' Sometimes it can be frustrating to be remembered at an age that you've outgrown. "

" Not being happy really is my fear. "

" Real faith is when you believe in something that you can't see. When things are going really bad and you can still get up and say I believe that they're gonna get better, that there's a higher lesson to what I'm going through. It can be hard sometimes, and to turn it around like that, that's true faith. "

" I can't work all day and then go home and hang out with the same people. I don't want everything to revolve around the entertainment business. Yes, that's my career, but it's not my life. "

" When I think about people like Queen Latifah, who literally found a script for me to star in, that's what I want to be for somebody. When you look at someone like Queen Latifah, or you think about the Will Smiths, those people are multifaceted. They do so many different things, but most important, they give back. "

" I want to present a very strong and bold image, but with femininity. I love being sweet and salty all together. "

" I feel like I've been known for having long black hair, so when I took all my extensions out and cut my own hair, it was the most freeing thing, I think, I've ever done. That was my 21st year: I cut my hair, I was doing Broadway; I was living in New York, and I was really having a moment of becoming my individual self, and it was amazing. "

" I definitely want to play someone who's inspired me. I would love to play Aaliyah; it would be personal because I love her so much. "

" I'm not a huge musical fan. It's like when people just jump out singing; it's not real. "

" As a child actor, you experience a lot of depression and anxiety... Yes, I went through depression, and it was not comfortable. Yes, I struggle with anxiety and being paranoid, trying to figure out who I am. "

" Urban Outfitters - I love it. It's almost like Forever 21, but for, like, the 24- to 25-year-old girl, getting a little bit older. "

" I went to, you know, a church in Chicago, and my mom, of course, was in the choir because my mom was a singer; she used to sing. I wanted to be in the choir as well, and I was like, 'Mom, please, you know, I want to sing in the choir with you guys.' I kept on asking her, and finally I was, you know, in the choir. "

" I can't even tell anyone how it feels when I'm acting, I don't mean to say that I don't have to try. But there's something in my heart that explodes, and I feel like I understand. When I'm acting, I feel like so in control and so centered. This is something that I solely get from acting and music. It's like love itself. "

" Corbin Bleu was my first kiss in life. I was 12, and he was, like, my first kiss for TV... It was on the lips! "

" Queen Latifah has been a huge part of my career. She has been a huge, huge part of my career since the very beginning. "

" I'm a workaholic, so I ignore the signs of fatigue and just keep going and going, and then conk out when I get home. It can be pretty stressful. "

" I didn't know I was gonna act. I thought I was gonna be a singer because that's what I did first, and I was like, 'When I grow up, I want to be, you know, a singer.' "

" The type of movies that give me the heebie jeebies are thrillers, because anything that's playing with your thoughts and mind, that's scary. But one thing that they never do in horror movies that I always do is I pray. You never see them pray in horror movies. "