I don't think I'm a follower, frankly.

Which is not to discount everything I've done in my past; everything I have learned tremendously from.

I'm actually developing a project so that I can have a lead.

We filmed one scene on the beach and there was definitely weird energy around, and we were followed around by a white owl to several different locations, and little things like that, or certain mishaps would happen and you'd have to wonder what that was about.

That's double-edged: it's amazing that they're bringing me in and showing people new ideas, and at the same time it's a little hard because seventy percent of the time or even higher I'm not going to get those roles.

In the end, I play a lot of friends and I really think it's about time that some ethnic girls get out there in the lead part. So we're developing something.

Which is why I felt I was truly blessed this year, with leads in two nice films, and also the luxury of being able to do a studio film and an independent afterwards was fantastic.

Even befor doing this film, I've always been interested in mythology.

So now I feel I'm lucky in the respect that I can sort of pick a little more carefully, which is tricky because as a black actress, there aren't that many roles to pick from.

I like to make collages - paper collages.

For six months I'd do movies and make it all about me. Then the other six months, it's not about me and it doesn't matter what my hair looks like or what anything looks like.

I don't think I'm a follower, frankly.

Editing is a natural extension of the collage making. It's actually one of the few areas that women were able to excel in in the film industry from the beginning.

If you're fortunate enough, you get to a position where you can be a little pickier about your roles.

When you work on a movie, you just have no idea how it's going to come out; you hope it's good, but you don't really know, and you don't see it until about six or nine months afterward, and I saw it and was pretty pleased.

And I can relate to that, because I went to an all white school, so I knew what that was like. And it was hard at the time, but anything that's difficult you learn from, don't you?

As far as developing a career as an actress, I think it's a fine balance between trying to just work, and also be true to yourself.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm not working at McDonald's and how come I have the life I have. I don't know. But I'm happy that I have these choices. That's kinda sappy, huh? But whatever, acting beats pumping gas.

He was as fresh as is the month of May.

I used to game a lot, and I used to game a little too hard.

I really love making people laugh.

It's so easy for people to stick a label on you, and then that taints everything you touch.

Genuine equality means not treating everyone the same but attending equally to everyones different needs.

I now resolved to go to bed early, with a firm purpose of also rising early the next day to revisit this charming walk; for I thought to myself, I have now seen this temple of the modern world imperfectly; I have seen it only by moonlight.

Museums are like sports stadiums, hotels and hospitals: they are in the category of captive-audience dining.

Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.

Back in the day for me was a great time in my life - I was in my 20s. Most people refer to their experiences in their twenties as being a highlight in their life. It's a period of time where you often develop your own way, your own sound, your own identity, and that happened with me, when I was with a great teacher - Miles Davis.

I go back to when we met with the late Steve Jobs. He couldn't understand why we didn't put Wi-Fi in every cable set box. And I literally went home and said, 'Tell me again - what's Wi-Fi?'

The thing is, I have never been that confident, and, um, I have a lot of self-doubt, and I had never - I don't think I ever would have consciously chosen to be a television presenter.

I would love if film doesn't disappear, if we can have film forever so we would have all these brushes, all these possibilities available.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.

No two children learn in the same way. While we might agree that every American eight-year-old should be able to read and multiply, beyond those basics, there are few reasons to make every student follow the same path.

When I first watched Bette Davis in 'All About Eve', I was struck by how much I felt that she is Margo Channing and that she's Bette Davis, where she was able to do both, where you're like, 'What an icon.'

To so enter into it in nature and art that the enjoyed meanings of life may become a part of living is the attitude of aesthetic appreciation.

A monoculture is not only Hollywood, but Americans trying to export democracy.

Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.

I'm not the most beautiful model in the industry, but I am for sure one of the most 'fashion' creatures you can find!

The BBC has the obligation to think big. And at the moment, that clarion call sounds an uncertain note to me.

I'm always glad when people come together to help each other - whether they're raising money for somebody in a bad situation or making a creative piece like a song.

In the end, we’ll all become stories.

There is a long-standing tradition in the mainstream press of middle-of-the-road journalism that is objective and fair. I would hate to see that fall victim to a panic about the Fox effect.

The Silverlake Conservatory is a nonprofit music school in Los Angeles where we teach music, mostly to kids, but to people of all ages - people who are old, people with beards, all kinds of people.