actresses-from-virginia

"Oh, shoot. That's right. I forgot. I'm a black, lesbian female, and they aren't ready for this yet."

"I love doing stand-up. ... That's where I feel like I can be free."

"If your family isn’t supportive, you're going to find somebody who would be that surrogate parent who will love you and take care of you. You’ll make family. I did. Know that there’s places and people who will love you—and you can and you will have an amazing life."

"I hope we can get to a place where it’s normal to say, “Yeah, my wife and I,” and it’s not, “oh my god!” Which is why it’s important to have representation."

"I feel like with as much blood of my ancestors that has been shed to build this country, this is my country. I feel like I have more of a right here than anyone else."

"But they weren't ready to see a black woman who happens to be a lesbian also making fun of the president."

"I think the more trans visibility there is in mainstream media; the more room we will allow for individuality. Like if the trans community were the Spice Girls I’d just be the funny, raunchy one instead of me having to lie about my personal boundaries in order to better represent a community that does its best to operate as a whole while we get our footing in the world. But it’s still early now, and some trans people are understandably scared that the flippant sex worker is going to screw up the rebranding process. We’ve watched some feminists call porn stars sluts and whores for years because of fear that they’d undo social progress for women. I understand the fear, I just don’t necessarily agree with it."

"Tbh I only want a vagina when I wanna go out in yoga pants and not look like David Bowie in The Labyrinth from the waist down."

"I’m as humble and sweet as apple pie."

"Listening to an underserved population is how you begin to understand them and serve them better."

"I don't fear being outspoken. The only thing I fear is losing my sense of integrity or losing sight of the values on which I guide my life. So I don't think it's particularly brave or unusual for me to speak out."

"Being an actor, in and of itself, is just hard. You have to just do it for its own sake."

"I'm okay with not having a super-secure lifestyle because if you're doing what you like, you don't need stuff to fill any empty holes."

"I'd rather lose all my stuff than lose myself, because I've done that before, and that feels way worse."

"Specificity is what makes good storytelling, and good storytelling is what makes money, and making money is then what encourages new producers to invest in different stories about Asians."

"I don't have the best family life. I'm not going to have a sob story and be like, my parents abandoned me, because they didn't. But they also are not that present. When I'm alone, I'm alone. I don't have anybody to call, and so I have to create meaning from myself."

"I wish reporters were more in tune to the difference between the Asian experience and the Asian-American experience. I think often they lump the two together and think that when I talk about Asian-American narratives that they can cite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Mulan as proof of concept when it's a different experience."

"Make sure your work is never results-oriented. The result is a byproduct of the work, in a way."

"It’s exciting that (voice acting is) becoming a career unto itself, people are “voice actors.” I don’t call myself just a voice actor because I’m so passionate about the on camera stuff, our web series, film and television. I’m not what would be just considered a voice actor."

"You could say that doing a certain voice requires different mic technique, but really at the end of the day it is all still acting. Whether I’m doing a VG or an animated series/movie I still have to do my work as an actor in the same way: looking at the script, asking questions, making choices. When I record a VG though often I might be running down hundreds of lines/loops in an hour, so I’m simply reading each line a few different ways and moving on at a pretty fast pace, and usually by myself in the booth. With animation, it might be original, where it will be animated afterwards, then I will get to read off the other actors in the room, which is always a treat. With dubbed animation (most of the anime) I will once again be alone, but having to work technically matching mouth flap for timing so my performance matches the movement of the already animated mouth of the character."

"Love is a burnin' thing And it makes a fiery ring Bound by wild desire I fell into a ring of fire I fell into a burnin' ring of fire I went down, down, down And the flames went higher And it burns, burns, burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire"

"Quite often I feel forced to write against the stereotype. As much as you would like to ignore the stereotype, saying it's totally irrelevant, actually you can't. It impinges on your life a lot, it impacts on your work, and I know that quite often I write against the stereotype and I react against the stereotype. One stereotype of Asian Americans is that we're really serious, and we never have any fun, and we have no sense of humor. When Shirley MacLaine made an early trip to China and then she came back with a documentary, one of the things she said on the documentary was that "they have no sense of humor," and "we told all these jokes and they didn't laugh." I think I might overemphasize showing how Chinese and Chinese Americans are the most raucous people: they laugh so much, they're telling jokes, and they're always standing up and performing for one another. They're so outgoing. And so in China Men and in Tripmaster Monkey I really go overboard to emphasize that part of the character. I also think that being able to laugh and to be funny-those are really important human characteristics, and when we say that people don't have those characteristics, then we deny them their humanity."

"The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends."

"[About George McGovern] He is a spiritually evolved political leader."

"People see God every day. They just don't recognize Him."

"You can taste a word."

"You never find yourself until you face the truth."

"Most actors are basically neurotic people. Terribly, terribly unhappy. That's one of the reasons they become actors. Nobody well adjusted would ever want to expose himself or herself to a large group of strangers. Think of it. Insanity! Generally, by their very nature - that is if they're at all dedicated - actors do not make good parents. They are altogether egotistical and selfish. The better the actor - and I hate to say it, the bigger the star - why, the more that seems to be true. Honestly, I don't think I've ever known one - not one! - star who was successfully able to combine a career and family life"

"It's my nature to go around in high spirits most of the time and then to collapse."

"You'll never learn to act in Hollywood. Not in a thousand years."

"Maybe my face is edgy, but that's because it's the face of somebody who's seen life."

"I'm not a greedy person, I just want to accomplish so many different things."

"I have so many friends who hate their jobs and man, it's such a struggle trying to find what they love or what they dream of. I feel so lucky that I found what I love and my dreams have started to come true."

"The whole business is a gamble. There's no real stability, you're kind of just floating around like a feather your whole life."

"The initial drive was instilled in me when I was little, growing up with a single mom, we struggled a lot. I saw my dad but he wasn't financially supportive at all so we were, for lack of a better word, very poor. But I don't want to be the one with that story of being poor and coming up from it. It was really that my mother instilled in me that drive and sense of urgency and it's always been inside of me."

"I thought my life would be different somehow I thought my life would be better by now But it's not, and I don't know where to turn"

"In the dark, I like to read his mind But I'm frightened of the things I might find."

"When I tell him that Im falling in love Why does he say "Hush, hush, keep it down now. Voices carry"?"

"I try so hard not to get upset Because I know all the trouble Ill get Oh, he tells me tears are something to hide And something to fear And I try so hard to keep it inside So no one can hear."

"He wants me, but only part of the time. He wants me if he can keep me in line."

"I look in your eyes I realize what you've sold me is love in a vacuum. Love in a vacuum."

"Living on silence, Living by the book. You get it to a science Of living on one good look. So put out all the fires And blow away the smoke. I'm getting pretty tired Of living on hope."

"Coming up close Everything sounds like welcome home. Come home and oh, by the way, Don't you know that I could make a dream that's barely half-awake come true? I wanted to say — but anything I could have said I felt somehow that you already knew."

"There's always something that's smoldering somewhere I know it don't make a difference to you But oh! It sure made a difference to me You'll see me off in the distance, I hope At the other end At the other end of the telescope."

"I should've known It was coming down to this. I should've known You would betray me but without the kiss. I should've known The kind of set-up it is."

"I don't know how to break the news, but It's pretty clear you'll be asked to choose between What you lack and what you excuse In this tug of war You can't say that they didn't warn you Though you'd rather that they just ignore you Cause your devices are not working for you anymore What you want, you don't know You're with stupid now"

"Though you pay for the hands they're shaking The speeches and the mistakes they're making As they struggle with the undertaking Of simple thought What you want, you don't know You're with stupid now What you know, you don't want to know You're with stupid now."

"In our endeavor we are never seeing eye to eye; No guts to sever so forever may we wave goodbye. And you're always telling me that it's my turn to move, When I wonder what could make the needle jump the groove. I won't fall for the oldest trick in the book, So don't sit there and think you're off of the hook. By saying there is no use changing 'causeThat's just what you are. That's just what you are."

"Oh, for the sake of momentum I've allowed my fears to get larger than life. And it's brought me to my current agendum Whereupon I deny fulfillment has yet to arrive.And I know life is getting shorter, I can't bring myself to set the scene. Even when it's approaching torture, I've got my routine."

"Now that I've met you, Would you object to Never seeing each other again? 'Cause I can't afford to Climb aboard you. No one's got that much ego to spend.So don't work your stuff, Because I've got troubles enough. No, don't pick on me When one act of kindness could be Deathly, Deathly, Definitely."