I had never picked up a basketball before. I went through a grueling audition process. It was almost as if I was learning to walk. It would be like teaching somebody to dance ballet for a role.

I did work out every day. I needed it to have the endurance to do what needed to be done and not get hurt. I have such a new respect for action stars now.

I look forward to going to work. Everybody is at the top of their game. It was like we just got to play.

CGI is done after the film is done. It's through the computer. Most of the film is not computer-generated special effects. Most of it is that creature that is in the room with you.

When you're on a set it can be very tedious and slow. It's just not as big as when you see it on film.

Some of us just have to work harder to stay in the game.

I got nominated for a Tony, which was a complete surprise. It was an experience that I will always cherish.

To make a movie is very grueling at times. Long, long hours and cold weather.

Sometimes when you don't care, people are attracted to that.

I didn't get to see Predator until halfway through shooting. It was great to get an education while I was shooting because it made me excited to be part of this legacy.

I wouldn't want anyone to destroy the earth.

I liked the fact that there were so many different representations of black women and black men in the movie. It wasn't like we all had the same agenda.

You would never expect a black woman to be the hero.

I'll eventually go back to theater because the feeling of being on stage where you have the audience right there, you can't replace that with anything.

Being strong can be also feminine. I don't think feminine equals being weak. Being strong is very sexy.

People make jokes about how black people are the first ones to be killed off.

The Alien is gross, scary. There is something in a human being that looks at them and sees it as a cockroach. You can never feel nurturing towards the cockroach.

In 1979, Alien came out and Sigourney was in it with a bunch a guys. Nobody at that time expected the woman to be the hero, so that was a tradition that started.

When you have a play, you have to be on every night.

If you're in love and there's that chemistry, that's what it's all about.

I was working straight for nine months and I'm exhausted. I'm ready to relax for a little while and read. I don't want to work for work sake; I have to be excited about it.

I had never picked up a basketball before. I went through a grueling audition process. It was almost as if I was learning to walk. It would be like teaching somebody to dance ballet for a role.

As different as me and Sigourney look is as different as these two characters are. I'm not filling her shoes. I'm doing a part that has the same monsters, but it's a completely different movie.

Good storytelling appeals to me - good writing.

I love going to the movies and getting Raisinets, a big tub of popcorn and a Coke. That's definitely a guilty pleasure because I can't be doing that all the time.

I really prefer the actual experience of being onstage and living the character from beginning to end with the energy of the audience. There's nothing that beats that feeling, and yet I really have trouble with the eight shows a week.

I think Hollywood is so driven by money, the people who are making the decisions are not necessarily reflective of the melting pot, so what stories are you going to want to tell? You're going to want to tell stories about yourself.

I think I'm a character actress in a leading lady's body, but the industry doesn't really see me that way.

I'm loving the ingredients that are in Pantene, and it smells so good, and that's important to me. It has cassia and aloe vera. The cassia flower is really good for strengthening hair strands and the aloe is wonderful for moisturizing.

In terms of facial creams or lotions, I try to switch it up and stay as natural as possible. l like Le Mer facial cream for when I have an event. It's very rich and sometimes too rich for some people, but I like it.

My dad is a director/producer and my mom is a dancer; she performed with Alvin Ailey, but I didn't even think about becoming an actress.

People may know me from films, but theater is my first love. I did about 35 plays before I even landed my first screen role. I'm very comfortable on stage, and theater is not something you can just wing.

The great thing about the stage is that you have a structured month-long rehearsal period where you're going in every day. You have to have lots of run-throughs with theater because there are no second takes in front of a live audience.

There is a lot of struggle in being an actor; you need so much emotional strength, no matter what level of stardom you have, that it's nice to have something steady.

Being strong can be also feminine. I dont think feminine equals being weak. Being strong is very sexy.

Dance is very, very old. With Louis XIV at Versailles is where ballet started.

I wanted to be a ballet teacher.

Classical ballet will never die.

I've got no plans to be a ballet dancer at the moment.

When life takes me on a new journey, I simply remember the smile my first ballet recital put on my face and I move forward.

Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.

The moment the curtain rose on that first ballet, I knew something wonderful and new had come into my life. I can still see the first scene. The ballet was Divertimento No. 15.

My grandmother had a Miss Margaret's School of Dance to teach tap and ballet to kids, but I never studied it. I was raised a Mormon and they're dancing fools. It's the only vice they have - dancing.

The real beauty of it - key to my life was playing key chords on a banjo. For somebody else it may be a golf club that mom and dad put in their hands or a baseball or ballet lessons. Real gift to give to me and put it in writing.

My background is somewhat unusual, as I trained to be a ballet dancer. I worked in the theatre for eight or nine years as a contemporary dancer. But as an actor one does read Shakespeare and does try to learn the classics.

However, the moral center of New York City, I believe, is the New York City Ballet.

I have ballet class every other day for two hours. And for "Six Feet Under", last week there was a sequence where I had to do a whole choreographed dance number, so I had four hours of dance practice every day.

I do take class because I still dance, and yes, I do slip into class with the Royal Ballet from time to time.

And it is always Easter Sunday at the New York City Ballet. It is always coming back to life. Not even coming back to life - it lives in the constant present.