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" I spent some time back in Mexico at 16 because my parents thought it would be prudent for me to learn Spanish, because I held a Mexican passport. "

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" I didn't know any successful actors in Kenya, so I felt like I could get away with going to college to study film more easily than I could with saying, 'I want to be an actor.' That's what I did. "

" I grew up in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya, so it's hustle and bustle, and there's always something going on. "

" There's always a sense of newness with acting, because every role, you come to every role fresh. "

" Home is where my family is. "

" The first time I cut all my hair off was when I was 19. I just got fed up going to the salon every week. I'd had enough! On a whim, it was off. It's low-maintenance. "

" I can speak of actors that I love. I love Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, her tenacity. I love Charlize Theron. She's so surprising and so exhilarating, the kinds of projects she takes on. Marion Cotillard as well. "

" I grew up watching foreign programs - American, English, Mexican, and very little Kenyan. 'The Color Purple' was the first time I saw people who looked like me. "

" I would love to have a career that's governed by the material; I always want to be part of stories that I feel are worthwhile. "

" It's great to have something to dress up for. You know, I spent three years in slacks at drama school, so now I like putting a dress on. "

" I give myself homework when I have an audition. I give myself goals, and that's how I check how I'm doing. It can be something simple like 'listen,' or 'find your feet.' And then afterward it's an assessment, so in a way it's not about booking the job or not. It's about what I learned as an actor about that character. "

" My conscious life has all been in Kenya, and it's my point of reference. But going back to Mexico was very formative. "

" Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I'd been starved for images of myself. I'd grown up watching a lot of American TV. There was very little Kenyan material, because we had an autocratic ruler who stifled our creative expression. "

" I grew up in a world where the majority of people were black, so that wasn't the defining quality of anyone. When you're describing someone, you don't start out with 'he's black, he's white.' "

" Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet. The shame doesn't even belong to us, but we still experience it because we're a part of the African race. If it happened to one, it happened to all. We carry that burden. "

" I was raised in Kenya, and I always wanted to be an actor from when I was really, really little, but the first time I thought it was something that I could make a career of was when I watched 'The Color Purple.' I think I was nine, maybe, and I saw people that looked like me - Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah. "

" The beauty standards had nothing to do with me in Mexico. It was such a bizarre, dire time for my hair. I was living in a small town where there was not any semblance of an African community. I'd have to take the bus to Mexico City to find a woman who could braid my hair. That was two and a half hours away. "

" I'm still trying to get over the fact that my name is being mentioned with people like Brad Pitt. "

" Steve McQueen is a genius. And I think that word is overused, but I think with Steve it's rightly used. He's a genius. "

" That's such a powerless place for me to think about: what is working against me. I don't think of what I don't have; I think of what I do and use that to get the next thing. "

" There have been rumors and rumors and rumors about my love life. That's the one area that I really like to hold close to my heart. "

" I come from a very close class. I lucked out because drama schools are often very competitive... I have fourteen classmates. "

" I grew up in the limelight and being the child of someone famous. So my relationship with fame is not bedazzled. "

" The Hollywood Film Awards were really stressful. It was the biggest press line I'd ever seen. "

" My father used to act in high school. He was in a production of 'Othello;' I don't know who he played, but it wasn't Othello. He would talk about it, though, and read Shakespeare to me. "

" My immediate family was always very supportive. It was my own fear of the rest of the world not accepting me, the rest of our society not accepting my wish to be an actor. "

" I've loved the opportunity to learn about the fashion world and appreciate it as an art form, and I look forward to my continued education, but I never want it to take over my acting. "

" Growing up, I had really bad skin. I had a skin disorder. Yes, I did. And my mother went to great lengths to try to find something to remedy it. I remember she took a trip to Madagascar and came back with all these alternative, medicinal herbs and stuff. They didn't smell so good, but I think they worked some magic. "

" Personally, I don't ever want to depend on makeup to feel beautiful. "

" I am thrilled beyond words that The Academy has recognized my performance in Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave,' and I am deeply proud to be in the company of my fellow nominees. "

" I'm pretty awesome at making salad dressings. "