Ariana DeBose
The more positive representation and accurate representation we have in the world, the more we can understand ourselves better.Collection: Positive
I was probably seven or eight when I first watched 'West Side Story.' The film - and 'Dance with Me' with Vanessa Williams and Chayanne, which I saw as an early teen - introduced me to Latin dance and Latin ballroom. They also introduced me to Latinx culture.Collection: Teen
When I was 11, I was riding in the car with my mother. We were in the middle of a dance workshop, and on the ride home, I said, 'Mom, you know, people are just really beautiful. Just like look at all those beautiful dancers. I think I could like a girl. I could date girls.' She was like, 'Oh, that's cool.'Collection: Car
As a color, red represents so many things - power, sensuality, vulnerability, and strength.Collection: Strength
I was blessed to have a family that accepted my sexuality, which I am painfully aware is not the norm.Collection: Family
My Best Friend's Wedding,' that was one of my favorite films growing up. There are a lot of people who say it doesn't hold up well, but there is something about it that I find so intriguing.Collection: Wedding
Young people need to know that their dreams are possible. If you squelch a young person's creativity, you've done them a great disservice. I think children really just need to be told that there's nothing wrong with them, and that they do need their creativity.Collection: Dreams
I never expect anybody to know who I am.
The point of art is to shake people's minds and talk about real social issues.
I have always wanted to make art that I thought was a conversation starter.
I was taught to hustle, to grind, to always try and find your next gig.
I'm a social butterfly. But as I've gotten older, I've realized that I do have that side of me where I become a wallflower.
I really love people and I believe in philanthropy and advocacy.
West Side Story' is already such an iconic cultural phenomenon, so to be a part of it was a huge privilege and honor that I was not looking for or expecting.
When you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, your body will let you know.
In the conversation around Black Lives Matter, Afro-Latinx people, we are part of that conversation.
I always needed to be better than I was the day before. Not trying wasn't an option.
The road less traveled is difficult, but it can be done.
Helping young people find resources in the face of adversity and directing families towards tools for acceptance and understanding is something I'm extremely passionate about.
It's not often that a woman of color gets to sing material from the golden age or material that was inspired by the time period.
Actors are weirdos.
I think representation is paramount. It's really important to grow up and see humans moving through the world that show you possibilities, who look like you, sound like you, who may identify like you.
The fullness of who you are, what it's like to be queer, out, Latina, Afro-Latina, biracial, or multiracial, however you want to identify... we are moving towards a space where I think it is now more widely accepted to hear all of those labels wrapped up into one person.
Even when I was young, I was like, 'I know I can do this. I know I'm going to be an entertainer.'
I was never afraid of my ambition - other people have been. I feel like it's been received at different times as if I'm a threat to their ambition. And I was always like, I don't see it that way, I'm sorry that you do.
I actually got my AFTRA card before SAG because they had not merged yet. I got my AFTRA card because I booked a job on 'One Life to Live.'
Bring It On' gave me my Equity card.
My mom is a public educator, and so teaching is sort of ingrained in me, in a way.
I didn't see the Tony nomination coming at all. It wasn't on my radar. I just was happy to have a gig, and one that people seemed to like.
I'm noticing generations that are coming up behind me that have gone to university or conservatory and, while they have beautiful technique when it comes to craft, there's not a lot of business sense or tools being taught to these young adults coming into the industry.
I think when you work in the entertainment industry, people around you change - but if you know who you are, you're the constant, and so it allows you to steer your own ship and make your own choices.
I believe in variety and I don't believe in doing the same thing twice.
I move toward projects that I find interesting, but I also want to try and make work that I feel can have even a small impact.
Pants at the Oscars is lit, hunnyyyy. That's a four-hour telecast - comfy and chic? Werk!
I like the quiet of those moments during the preparation of the look, when you're with your team putting the final pieces together and you all see the look at its most fully realized.
The ingenuity of fashion designers, the craft, is truly incredible - they're engineers.
I finished high school and started college, but I had auditioned for 'So You Think You Can Dance' and ended up on the show for their first Fall season, so I deferred from college and went back Spring Semester to Western Carolina University in the mountains. I lasted for two and a half months I think, and it wasn't for me.
I have always had a strong sense of intuition.
I loved to dance, and I just knew I wanted to be on stage.
When I first started out, I wanted to be Madonna's backup dancer.
Broadway found me. And I'm very grateful to have been found.
You know, the journey of coming out, the journey of identity is ongoing and to stand in your authentic truth for all the world to see is a very scary and vulnerable thing to do. It's very rewarding, but it's not always cupcakes and sprinkles, right? Acceptance is sometimes not an overnight reward, but it's possible.
Hamilton' was just bigger than us almost immediately. I watched my friends become rockstars, and I sort of got the benefit of being in the ensemble.
I was from Broadway, and typically when they make movie musicals in the States, they aren't using theater talent, they're using pop stars.
Being from the States, I think it's rare to make work about cultural or historical conflict that still reaches across party lines, quote unquote.
I'm still the same little girl from North Carolina who says awkward things sometimes.
I was really lucky in my childhood. My mom was amazing.
In your formative years what you see really shapes so much of who you're going to become and so many of the things I experienced during those formative years have allowed me to be the empathetic person that I am.
To me colour is part of what makes you 'you,' but it's not your whole thing. I'm very aware of it but I don't think this needs to define everything that makes us who we are.
As a kid I felt an ugly duckling. I never felt pretty, which is strange because if you talk to my family, they would say, 'Oh my God, you were a beautiful child. You were stunning. You were so cute.'