I Never Thought I Was Pretty. I

I Like Serious Films, The Moneymaking Blockbusters That Don't Make Any Kind Of Sense And John Carpenter Films.

I Ask You, How Would You Like Your Mom, Your Wife, Your Daughter To Spend $100,000 To Go To Harvard Or Some State School, And Go Out Into The Workplace, And You Know She's Great, And Men Are Getting Paid $200 Per Week More Than Her? Would That Piss You Off? What If You Lost Your Job And You Stay Home Crippled While She Goes Out, And She Thinks She's Going To Get A Good Job, But Someone Male With The Same Level Of Experience And The Same Level Of Education Gets Paid More Than Her? You're Going To Get Pissed. Until You Walk A Mile In Someone Else's Shoes, I Don't Want To Hear It.

Women Are Allowed More Freedoms And We're Fighting For More Freedoms, We're Experiencing More Freedoms Won.

I Tell Young Actresses Today Who Are Looking To Get Into Films, "first Of All, You Are Marginalized By The Color Of Your Skin." I Tell Actresses, "if You're Too Tall, If You're Too Fat, You're Not Going To Work. I Don't Care How Talented You Are." It's A Business, And Sex Sells. Sex, Action, Special Effects, And Violence Sell. Yes, You Can Have Art Films About The Triumph Of The Human Spirit And All Of That, But You'll Have It Done With A Big-budget Icon With A $20 Million Salary.

I Never Went In Thinking, "you're An African-american Woman, So You're Never Going To Win." I Was Just In Career Doing Beauty Pageants For The Experience, And To Show My Brains And Talent And Help Break Stereotypes. It Wasn't Like, "oh, I'll Become A Star. I'm Beautiful." I Never Thought I Was Pretty. I Couldn't Even Put On Eyelashes Or Makeup. When You Come From An Environment That's Military, And They Don't Stress That Topic Of Aesthetics Or Beauty Pageants And Makeup, There Are A Lot Of Things You Just Don't Have That City Girls Have.