“I never think it's right to chew gum in front of other people, but a lot of times I'll come in for a meeting chewing gum and I'll forget I'm chewing it. Then you don't want to swallow it because it stays in your system for seven years or something, so I've asked to throw it away. I've started to wonder if that's why I didn't get certain movies.”

“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.”

“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 have loved movies as the number one thing in my life so long that I can't ever remember a time when I didn't.”

“There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education.”

“I was always raised on cowboy films, and then when I could start making choices about the movies I wanted to watch I found myself wanting to watch gangster films which were slightly more sophisticated than the baseline stuff that was in westerns.”

“I don't have a lot of patience for boring arthouse movies.”

“Over the years with movies, I've given directors notes.”

“My dad had a commercial film company, so he had a videotape player before anyone. So he got Mel Brooks movies or Citizen Kane or some classic old movies. And every summer the revival house in Evanston would show the great films from the '50s and '60s and '70s.”