Well, I was a big fan of the book and therein a huge fan of the girl Precious. And so I felt like I knew this girl. I felt like I’d grown up alongside her. I felt like she was in my family. She was my friend and she was like people I didn’t want to be friends with.
Well, I’m certainly glad that I was nominated for an Oscar. There is certainly a respect that comes with that nod. Also, a compliment that comes with it, too. Not that I really know what I’m doing. In a lot of ways I feel like some child on set, or like a kid that snuck in the back door.
I’ve grown up with girls that are like Precious. I’ve grown up with people that are like everyone that I read about in that book. And so years later, when I was given the role, I just felt a huge responsibility to show the reality of that situation and to show that we’re not making it up.
I complain about my life. I used to complain about boys or not being able to drive or failing a test. Now I complain about boys, not being able to drive, and leaving home so much.
It’s so weird to turn on a switch and be the role model for all women, for all African-Americans. That doesn’t happen that easily. It just doesn’t. And so I don’t act up in public and I don’t do anything weird – because my sisters are watching me, not because the world is watching me.
I have a birthmark on the inside of my left knee that resembles an upside-down sea horse.
Just relax. When I was younger, I made myself the victim of catastrophic thinking. Anything that went wrong was the end of the world. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to stop myself and say, ‘Hey babe, calm down. Tomorrow there will be sun.’
I’m not a big fan of doing what my mother wants me to do, like any daughter.
It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.
One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl.
People want to know everyone for a lot of different reasons. It doesn’t have to be anything as big as an Oscar nomination. It could be a brand new job. People see their opportunity. And, when you’re winning, everyone loves a winner.
I am the only consistent person in my life and so I better like myself, and I better love myself. And I really better know that I’m as beautiful as anyone else.
I hate yoga so much. Like, if yoga was a person, I’d stab them.
I used to watch ‘Coming to America’ every day after school. I have full-on long-running inside jokes with friends and family about different scenes in that movie alone. Also, my brother and I loved ‘The Golden Child,’ so, yeah: I was a huge fan of Eddie Murphy growing up.
It’s like prom night for Hollywood. I’m really proud of myself for being here.
I live my life because I dare. I dare to show up when everyone else might hide their faces and hide their bodies in shame.
I’m really, really interested in the job of acting. I can really care less about being famous. I’m more about the work, and ‘The Big C’ was amazing, so I wanted to be a part of it.
I would like to continue acting. I tell people I can’t go back to real life. I have to see how far I can go with it. I am serious about it, and I believe that it’s my calling. I think it’s what my life’s path is. It’s what God has given me. It’s what I was born to do. And so I must do it.
Hollywood, that whole industry, is a lot like a really small town. You bump into the same people all the time. I think Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon can be played with anyone and everyone in Hollywood.
Being an actress wasn’t a plan at all, so what’s happened to me is very strange. Life isn’t very normal, even though I’m still very much a normal girl. I ride the subway, I ride the bus, and all of that.