I think Europeans have enough tradition and respect for the experience and body of work of an actress that they don't sell out to the new ones.

I do think that at one time being an actress was the equivalent almost of being a prostitute. It garnered roughly the same respect. That's changed a lot thank goodness.

In England with all due respect we have some of the plainest actresses in the entire world as our greatest.

It's a paradox to be an actress living in the city taking planes all the time trying to find the right balance in this life which is not so eco-friendly and still try to respect the environment.

I wouldn't date an actress. There's only room for one actor in my life and I'm it. Too difficult. On the one hand they understand the job. But on the other hand it's very competitive within the relationship. Two actors say one becomes a mega-star and the other doesn't.

I look to longevity. I just consider myself an actress and getting good roles. If being a 'superstar' gets me good roles then that's a positive thing. But my goal isn't just to be a superstar. It's to act for a long time.

It's also a question of finding good material and interesting roles. I'm not the only actress out there and good parts just don't fall into your lap that easily. But I like most of the films I've made recently and so I'm pretty positive about the future.

This career essentially chased me down while I was on the spoken-word scene in New York. I kept hearing that my delivery of my poetry - which was very personal and cathartic at the time- was very moving to folks. People thought that I was an actress because of my delivery when I was just dropping into the work and really pouring out my soul.

I was trained as an actress. But I wasn't a very convincing actress so I started doing punk poetry and then fell into doing stand-up.

There's always an imbalance with actors and actresses in the industry. And I think because there are just fewer movies overall being made it's that trickle down effect.

People go to the movies to watch a film and all they're thinking about is the actress's cellulite they saw in a magazine.

I'm fighting the label of 'Black' actress simply because it's very limiting in people's eyes especially people who are making movies.

I really like Gwyneth Paltrow a lot as far as her career because I think she's done a lot of small movies but she's also done great big movies and she's a really great actress.

I feel I want to grow as an actress and be better. I want to progress as a singer and songwriter and produce movies and everything. So there'll be no time when I feel I've done it all.

I just knew that was what I wanted to do. I was going to perform as a singer I was going to perform as a dancer and I was you know going to do movies and be an actress. I was going to do it or die trying. That's what my life was.

Give me a couple of years and I'll make that actress an overnight success.

The thing with me is if I wake up one morning and I'm not happy working as an actress I'll stop. It's not something I have to do. It's not a vocation.