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" My dream role is actually behind the camera. I want to direct. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Want
Role
Behind
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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
" 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. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Progress
Amazing
Night
" I read so many scripts, and it's not really exciting to just be the girlfriend. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Exciting
Just
Girlfriend
" 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. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Relationship
Work
Character
" I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn't exist; it's gross and disgusting. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Exist
Disgusting
Ignorant
" I have respect for therapists in general, because they hear so many stories. It's a lot to hold and take in. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Because
Hear
Hold
" I can get a little scattered and want to be everywhere and want to do everything for everyone. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Want
Everyone
Everything
" Oftentimes, a history book in school will talk about the Underground Railroad as if it's one sentence. But thousands of people decided to run, and they single-handedly changed the trajectory of our nation. By running to the North, they put a face to slavery, which recruited a lot of abolitionists. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
People
Book
Face
" Until we really heal the wounds that we dealt with during slavery, I don't think we'll be a fully realized country. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Slavery
Dealt
Country
" 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. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
American
Heritage
Mom
" After being a mom, we are now in a different chapter in our womanhood, and instead of trying to be our old selves or get our old body back, we should embrace who we are now. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Chapter
Now
Mom
" '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. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Time
Wild
Mom
" The slave narratives, there is a wealth of research there, because you are hearing stories from the first person account, and that's a whole different thing than reading about it in the history books. You're able to really personalize it. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Reading
You
Wealth
" My siblings are so talented. My sister's a producer, and my brothers and I all write. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Brothers
Producer
Sister
" There are obstacles and challenges that my dark-skinned sisters face that I will never know. How they are perceived when they walk in a room of strangers is something I will never truly know. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Face
Walk
Obstacles
" It is a beautiful thing to work on your relationship. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Beautiful
Relationship
Work
" That's something I've struggled with my entire life - people underestimating me. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Entire
Me
Something
" 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. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Dress
Son
Mom
" I wouldn't even call myself a former child star. I was a child actor; there's a difference. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Star
Actor
Child
" There's injustices within our system that we inherited from this time, from slavery, and until we confront our past, we're not going to be able to heal the wounds for our future. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Time
System
Slavery
" 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. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Job
Walk
You
" There's something about Jason Katims' writing that just feels like home to me. He gives you so much liberty to play, which you don't find on most TV shows. You just don't. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Writing
You
Home
" I like the idea of matchmaking; I'm just not very good at it. It's too much pressure! "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Like
Too Much
Pressure
" I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but there are times where a role will require you to live in their world. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Live
World
Will
" We used to play touch football, where you put the little rag in your pocket. I was good because I was fast. I wasn't the greatest at catching. Sometimes the ball would come so hard and fast that it'd knock the wind out of me. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Wind
Football
Good
" How often do you see young actors playing scholars? Or striving to be intellectuals, you know? It's not that often. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
You
Young
Know
" 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
" Far too often, I read a script where the girls are the girlfriend or the set dressing. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Where
Too
Girlfriend
" My mom is from New Orleans. And all of my maternal relatives were there during Katrina. We couldn't even find my uncle for four months. We literally didn't know where he was. I had been there just four days before the storm hit. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Mom
Uncle
Find
" Marian Wright Edelman is a mentor and hero of mine. "
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Mentor
Wright
Mine