Ariana DeBose
I'd love to make movies, the challenge of it. They're almost always shot out of order, so you have to figure out where your character is in a moment, even if you haven't yet shot the moment that got you to that place.
I've danced for camera before, done a few TV gigs, and I loved it.
I actually thought I was going to be a politician. I like people and I like to argue, and I like to help others, which, to me, sounds like a politician, but only if you're doing it for the right reasons.
When I first moved to New York, you know, I was a starving artist.
I'm queer, I'm Afro-Lat, I'm biracial. I have so many different labels. I'm like, Good Lord - I am America. I belong to damn near every single marginalized community in one way or another.
You cannot just boil down what it is to be Latino in one thing.
We just need to love each other.
My entire career has been people trying to put me in boxes.
I like to disappear and watch people. I get my best ideas from watching other people.
It's really fascinating how society has chosen to view or define what it is to be Latino. Latinos are not a monolith. There's no one way to present.
There were many people like myself who never really imagined that women who identify as queer or lesbian would ever be romantic leads.
You should be able to dance with who you want to dance with at your prom and be celebrated for it.
To be recognized by your fellow actors, that's real special.
It is surreal. It's wild. I will never not be 'Golden Globe-winner Ariana DeBose' now, you know?
Broadway shows, you can do them for years and that's great. It's not my style, personally.
As much as I'm an artist, I consider myself a business person of sorts.
I made a very conscious decision to get to know the business of my business.
After a while you also learn you can't change everyone's mind. That's on them.
Much like identity, my relationship with my body and my style evolves.
I'm a woman. I fluctuate, I bloat - one day I'm curvy, one day I'm lean. That doesn't mean that there aren't days where I wake up with a bit of body dysmorphia or feel self-conscious, but that's part of the human experience, so I try to choose clothes that embrace and flatter the body that I have.
I work with brands that see me, that honour all body types, that are powerful.
I work with brands where we can find a shared creativity where I'm inspiring them and they're inspiring me.
That's really special when you can watch a work of art change the world.
I had been involved in the development process of 'Hamilton' for quite a number of years before we brought it to Broadway.
I had grown up watching the Tonys on the television. I think every sensible theater geek is watching that opening number, dreaming of participating in it one day.
I would tell any and all young people who are curious about a life in the performing arts to stay curious, stay humbled, and always remember to bring the energy in the room that you would want to work in.
We didn't speak Spanish at home. My mother is an educator and a glorious white woman, and I love the upbringing that she gave me. The way she tried to keep my Latinidad alive in me was through art.
I have to celebrate my Afro-Latinidad, not deny it.
My Blackness, my Latinidad, and my queerness all resonate in me equally and can't be separated from each other.
I'm not really a fussy red carpet kind of girl.
I speak dance better than I speak English.
That's what I do best - communicate through movement.
I grew up as a competitive dancer.
Dancers do not progress to become leading ladies. We become well-respected ensemblists. When I left 'Hamilton,' I realized that if I wanted to be taken seriously, I had to go in and sing just as well as the singers who move - and not only that, I needed to try to be better than them because I'm a woman of color.
I was cornered in a bathroom at a Hollywood event and someone told me I took their job from them. And that, to me, was an only-in-Hollywood moment. That never happened to me in high school - no one ever cornered me and said, 'You took my boyfriend.' I guess I didn't have that problem.
We need more men championing women in Hollywood. I don't think women need to change. We just need to be allowed to do what we do best.
There have been insinuations that I was given an Oscar because I'm queer and because I am an Afro-Latina. And that's haterade. That's just haterade. And I know that.
I was very aware of who Rita Moreno was growing up. I was like, 'She's one of the women who sort of looks like me.' But, she is a white presenting woman. We are both Latinas, but we're different in terms of how we walk through the world.
Triple threat roles are what I'm built for.
When I think of growing up, I see dance, I hear music and I think of teachers.
When I need to process, I move. In my childhood, it was the thing that helped me process whatever I was seeing.
I dance colors. Music shows me colors. I frequently say, 'I dance music; the music does not dance me.'
I don't like work experiences, period, where I feel like I'm asked to fit a box, because my job is to discover the box and to define the box. That's my job, in my opinion.
When I left 'Hamilton,' my goal was just to take on work that was more challenging, like, a leading lady, heavily featured role.
I don't think roles for queer women have to always present in one specific way.
As a queer woman of colour I've been asked to be more urban, as if my brand of Blackness wasn't quite Black enough. I think that's interesting. I've also been asked to be more butch, which is not a bad thing. But sometimes you'd like to be able to bring your sheer humanity to a role.
I'm a Broadway girl at heart.
I'm a strong-willed person, and once I've made up my mind, I've made up my mind.
My whole career is based on how I can continue to challenge myself. That's why I've taken each of the jobs that I've had.