actresses-from-detroit

"We have to especially in these times. We are all living in very hard times and they are particularly hard for people of color I really think it is important we have some dreams we aspire to. You have to set a goal where you want to go before you know where you’re going. I feel like we all are entitled to dream big and eventually one day they will happen."

"It was a project where all the elements aligned to create a classic and that’s what happens with quality projects. We don’t have a whole lot of quality projects made, especially for Black films."

"For me to know Aretha Franklin did the soundtrack, I loved it and did not have a problem with it. Of course in retrospect we know the audience was so hyper-devoted to the original and would have loved to hear us do an album or CD on it. It is what it is and I was very thrilled that Aretha did it, frankly."

"“I’m tired of lip service…There’s a lot of: ‘We really want to do this’, and then I realise they just don’t listen. They say they want your voice, but when you use your voice, they don’t want to do anything you say."

"I had been reading Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, which talks about mass incarceration and mass incarceration being the new Jim Crow. But I really believe education is also the new Jim Crow right now because there is so much segregation in education, and there’s an excessive system of have and have-nots. So I was first and foremost interested in exploring the school-to-prison pipeline because of how personally it affected some people in my life."

"When I’m writing, I can see myself in all of the characters I write."

"It shocked me and concerned me how quickly we criminalize and don’t give second chances to young men of color, and particularly young African American men…"

"When I hit reset every 24 hours, in my mind I'm in competition with myself and whatever I did the day before, to keep topping how I did it... that's how I measure if I'm any greater in my action steps towards my greatness."

"I say if your fear of criticism is stronger than your desire for success, you've failed in thought, long before action."

"I was learning that, even for a woman with power, the path was dotted with land mines—she's so ambitious. she's so aggressive. she's ruthless. "Funny thing," I used to say, "a man has to be Joe McCarthy to be called ruthless . . . all a woman has to do is put you on hold.""

"The act of writing the book was painful at times, but it was easier than talking to someone."

"It was the most fun I ever had. I would just laugh between takes. It was fun to be so mean."

"I was so enchanted with the open possibilities and the power of being able to choose my part. Who was the child now? I decided I’d be a Japanese businessman because it would be less predictable. Even when I was alone, I was so filled with excitement and laughter at the thought of my task. This was joyful children’s play!"

"Playing Elizabeth Taylor was probably the hardest job I’ve ever done."

"Boxing Helena was something that I think was pretty cool, but people judged it without even having seen it. It’s not perfect, but I think for the story that we were trying to tell, it turned out pretty good. What it signified was really powerful to me: how society puts us in boxes one way or another."

"She’s got a brain and all the right emotional instincts, and that’s a great combination."

"One of the keys to understanding Fenn is that when she talks about the characters she plays she's really talking about herself."

"She’s like a terribly sad angel in this film. Sherilyn plays against just being a sexy and beautiful girl. Hopefully her performance in my film will show her deep talent because she certainly showed the right mix of innocence and seductiveness for the role. We needed a fresh face but also one who knew what she was doing."

"She's a mysterious girl and I think that actresses like her who have a mystery — where there's something hiding beneath the surface — are the really interesting ones."

"Director Kevin Connor and I arranged a lunch, not an audition. We knew 10 minutes into our meeting that Sherilyn was it. She has the same striking beauty, and because of that she's experienced some of the things in life and in this business that make Elizabeth such a fascinating person."

"With Sherilyn Fenn, Twin Peaks came on and effortlessly destroyed every other show’s sexuality."

"A lot of the sentiment that acting should be about an art form rather than mass entertainment and celebrity is at the core of Fenn’s attitude to the business."

"I try to keep myself centered. I don't go to parties and all that. I don't think being seen or being in the right place is going to make me a better actress. I care about my work and try to do what's right in my heart."

"Audrey’s been great for me. She has brought out a side of me that’s more mischievous and fun that I had suppressed, trying to be an adult. She has made it OK to use the power one has as a woman to be manipulative at times, to be precocious. She goes after what she wants vehemently and she takes it. I think that’s really admirable. I love that about her."

"The world has certain rules — Hollywood has certain rules — but it doesn't mean you have to play by them, and I don't, or I'd be a miserable person."

"I see people giving me looks because I'm so opinionated. That hurts my feelings, but at the end of the day I have to live with me and respect myself. And I've done enough things in my life where I was confused and didn't respect myself that I will not do it any more."

"The studios have their list of five actresses and whether they’re right or wrong for a role doesn’t matter. It’s how much money their last movie made."

"They’ve offered me every variation on Audrey Horne, none of which were as good or as much fun."

"I like taking risks and I decided to put every bit of me into the role."

"I don't know why people see the things that they do. I wouldn't pay to see them, they don't touch me or move me in any way."

"People who think they know me would be surprised that my whole life doesn't revolve around sex."

"There are stereotypes of what a beautiful woman is. She struggled with that. A certain part of her life she went on that calling card. I certainly know I've come into contact with that. ‘You are too pretty,’ I'm told."

"I was told once that I didn't play the Hollywood game, and that's why I wasn't a big star. What they meant when they said that was that I don't go to parties, and when I go to an audition and I don't like the script, they know it. I don't flirt and I don't play the people that I'm meeting with. In the next breath, this person said to me, ‘When you're passionate about a role, there's nobody that can touch you, but you have to learn to do this also...’ But I don't know how to sit there and pretend I love something when I don't!"

"I think there's an anxiety in life when we automatically tend to look to the next thing or we're complaining about the past; like somebody recently said to me, 'Well, is your show going to get picked up? Aren't you concerned about that?' I said, 'I don't care. I don't want to worry about that because worrying is not going to make it happen or not happen.' I want to trust that if it does, then that's what's supposed to happen and if it doesn't get picked up, then that's okay, too. It's just a more peaceful way to live."

"You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream, you've got to get out there and make it happen yourself."

"Diana Ross is a big inspiration to all of us. We all grew up watching everything about her - her mike placement, her grace, her style and her class."

"So I'm not worried about the emotions I carry with me, because I'm happy that I have them I think it's good for the work I do. The emotions that are not healthy are the ones you hold inside, like anger."

"“My travels led me to where I am today. Sometimes these steps have felt painful, difficult, but led me to greater happiness and opportunities.”"

"“I really, deeply believe that dreams do come true. Often, they might not come when you want them. They come in their own time.”"

"You know, you do need mentors; but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself."

"A reporter once asked me if I ever cried. I wonder if people think I'm just as hard as a rock and have no emotions at all."

"It is so hard for us little human beings to accept this deal that we get. It's really crazy, isn't it? We get to live, then we have to die. What we put into every moment is all we have… What spirit human beings have! It is a pretty cheesy deal—all the pleasures of life, and then death."

"A company producing a television commercial was looking for child dancers. … It was a commercial set in the fifties, and a young family broke into dance. I was the son; I had a sister, a father, and a mother, who was played by Gilda Radner. Gilda had not yet been hired for Saturday Night Live (in fact, Saturday Night Live didn’t exist yet). It was a four-day shoot, and I, like every other human being who met her, fell in love with Gilda. And on the last day of the shoot, we said our goodbyes in the parking lot. I cried like a baby. My whole family came to pick me up, and upon seeing me crying, my brothers gave me a new nickname to replace Twinkletoes. I was hereby called Sucky Baby, because of the emotion I had displayed upon my cruel separation from Ms. Gilda Radner, who became known in my house as “your girlfriend.” I was Sucky Baby for ten years."

"While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die—whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness."

"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."