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" I'm very picky about the kind of work that I do, and I'm fortunate to have been able to work with great directors and great actors who've helped me grow as an artist. "

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Great

Kind

Artist

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" I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn't exist; it's gross and disgusting. "

" 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. "

" Little Richard played my uncle on 'Full House.' He's fabulous. I remember him being incredibly kind to me. I just remember him being super, super nice. "

" How often do you see young actors playing scholars? Or striving to be intellectuals, you know? It's not that often. "

" 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. "

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

" With film, there's a consistency to it, but what I like about the TV shows that I've been fortunate to do, like 'Friday Night Lights' and 'True Blood,' is that it feels like you're doing a film. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" As women, I think we give so much of ourselves. "

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" The Underground Railroad, which was the first integrated civil rights movement, is a part of our history that not a lot of us know about. And it's actually a very empowering side of our history. "

" It's such a transition and it's so empowering to become a mom, but there are also many challenges. Just remind yourself, every minute, every day, to be kind to yourself. "

" I started shooting 'The Defenders' two days after I wrapped' Friday Night Lights.' I was doing research for 'The Defenders' throughout - interviewing lawyers and sitting in courtrooms just to watch - but there's something fun about throwing yourself in the water and learning by doing. "

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" 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

" 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. "

" There's something about driving through Texas, and it's hot, your skin is sticking to you. The environment affects your attitude and your swagger. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Henry Louis Gates is such a wealth of knowledge in himself. "

" Injustice is either very blatant - you walk down the street and someone calls you a name; you don't get a job because of your gender or your skin color or your sexual preference - but injustice is also very subliminal. "