"I don’t know the why of anything, even when I pretend most diligently I do. The truth is the last time I had any idea…"

"I never really had any aspirations to be an actor when I was young. I wanted to play the piano in a bar, to be the ol…"

"If I do decide one day to stop acting, I just hate the idea of people going: 'Oh, did you ever do anything else besid…"

"I don't really know how to act, I kind of wanted to somehow make it real, and one of the ways I've always thought mak…"

"I never knew there was a purpose for girls with loud voices until I discovered musical theater."

"there's nothing noble about keeping one's self small"

"fame and fortune must be corrupting"

"In mothering, I didn’t think about myself as being a Black mother. I’m a mother"

"To be held in esteem by other people is, for me, a humbling experience."

"I grew up in a time where these things begin in childhood—your grandparents, aunts, uncles, your own parents, the tea…"