I’ve also grown as an actor as I’ve got older in life. I’ve learnt how to go to work, immerse myself 100 per cent in the character and, at the end of the day, take it all off and go back, get a nice bubble bath, have a nice massage and realise that is not my life. And that feels good.
During really difficult times in my life when I start questioning why I am struggling with something, I often turn to books to understand myself better.
I get offered varied parts, often super sexy roles. But I still think it’s an issue to find the good scripts. It’s a myth that you win an Oscar and you get more opportunities, and this doesn’t just go for me.
I am my best self when I have super-short hair. That’s when I feel most like me and most confident.
Nature has got it all wrong: When you are younger, it should be harder to get pregnant, and as you get older it should be easier.
The fact is that I like thrillers and action movies. But what really fulfills me is getting out of my comfort zone, taking chances.
When a young woman tells me that she wants to become and actor, I say, ‘No, be a writer. Or go to business school and learn how to run a studio.’ The only real change will come from behind the scenes.
I don’t buy into that pressure to be glamorous all the time. It’s impossible, I mean, you get a pimple in the morning, you wake up with bags under your eyes, you see if you can use it in your work, maybe incorporate it into your character.
I’ve always liked to go down a different path. Being a woman of color, I never followed a cookie cutter way.
As beautiful as Halle is on the outside, she’s 10 times more beautiful on the inside.
I will not marry again. There is no need.
When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there’s no way you could be a good winner.
My mother never wanted me to focus on my physical self. She always said that beauty is what you do.
I would say a magical thing happened on when the big 40th birthday came. I felt like a light kind of just went off, and maybe that’s because I felt like at 40 I had the right to say and be who I wanted to be, say what I wanted to say, and accept what I didn’t want to accept.
Motherhood sort of puts things into perspective, and it’s bout real life, and life is about people, what we give, what we take, what we share.
I know that there is a God – the God within me that’s always present and will protect me. I’m not afraid to climb any mountain, because I know that I’m protected. Even if I fall and die, I’m still protected. My faith is on that level.
If you really want to be competitive in today’s market you have to be in movies that make money.
There’s a place in me that can really relate to being the underdog. I’m always fighting to overcome the obstacle. I can really understand what’s that about.
I’m learning to accept the lack of privacy as the real downer in my profession.
Beauty is not just physical. It’s about what you stand for, how you live your life.