The metamorphosis of people is so interesting. I guess that's why everybody loves before and afters, throwback Thursdays, and all that kind of thing.
They call Howard University the 'capstone of black education.' Howard was one of the historically black colleges where people want to go and send their children. Both of my grandfathers went through the medical school, and being in D.C., not far from New York City, it was a natural choice for me.
I am very loyal to the women I am fully licensed to.
I think water seeks its own level, that we go through challenges to become better. And now more than ever, it's good to look at who you're following in any type of hierarchy or institution - be it a church or the government. We can see how easy it is for people to lose their footing when they have great power.
Many of the people I know and that you know are very complex human beings, and it's not all about race. Everything isn't a question of race. Everything isn't a question of economics at the very base level.
Even the toughest people have a backstory, and villains don't feel like they're the bad guys.
When I saw 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' and Audrey Hepburn was standing in front of Tiffany's in this Givenchy dress, or when I saw 'All About Eve,' I thought that period was just fabulous. I mean, who would not want to walk down the stairs with their hands in their pockets, and say, 'Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.'
Josephine Baker is such an iconic woman that once you've touched her and she has touched you, it never goes away. I'm stuck with her. I'm sure 50 years from now, when they write my obituary, they will mention that I played Josephine Baker. It'll be on my epitaph.
I think that huge Christian institutions deal a lot with corruption. You see it happen with so many institutions. We've seen the questions with Catholicism, we've seen the questions with some other mega churches that really do exist.
We did a play in the third grade all about Winter not wanting to give over his throne to Spring. That was my first title role, and I took full advantage of it. I felt like there was no one else on that stage but Ms. Spring.
A spiritual relationship to me is much more about making your own connection to the divinity that you believe in and much less about the person - the shepherd - who's overseeing it all.
I would love to do espionage like 'The Thomas Crown Affair,' that kind of thing. And I've always had a fascination with madams. It's interesting to me what that institution is like, how those women are.
The life of an artist is always reproving what you can do, and I feel like there is still so much more to do. Because I still enjoy it, and I'm not one of those actors who feels like, 'Oh, I've arrived and you should worship at my altar,' kind of thing.
I started at Howard in the drama department. At the same time, I was a fledgling member of the Black Repertory Company in Washington, D.C. When I graduated, I had the great fortune of being in the Los Angeles production of 'For Colored Girls'... And all these years since, I've done stage work.
I wanted to do what I was seeing Dorothy Dandridge doing, what I saw Marilyn Monroe do, what I saw Bette Davis do. I wanted to do that: to tell stories. I wanted to make people laugh, make people cry. I wanted to be a storyteller.
At consignment shops, I can collect things reasonably, and it's joyful. My dining room table was $75, and I'm so proud. It's beautiful.
I wouldn't want to be a mother that put blinders on and didn't see what was going on with my child. There can be huge consequences to such a thing.
I have always been part of a family with a great appreciation for the arts.
When men age, their love interests get younger. It doesn't stop them from doing different genres of stuff. As women age in film, you know, they go from the woman in charge to the mother, the grandmother... off a cliff somewhere.
What I'm really praying is that we, as a people, understand that we are interdependent upon each other. We don't want police to leave; we want policing in our world. But I think that people aren't comfortable with each other.
