I have to also get into producing if I want to see these stories being made... Let's venture out and do projects with people of different ethnicities: not just black but also Asian actors and Asian superhero films. Just an equality across the board.Collection: Equality
I don't need to be validated by anybody else; I don't need to be accepted or approved of for my happiness.Collection: Happiness
It was cool to play an African princess who's the smartest in the whole world. That never happens. So I hope all the young girls can feel smart, too.Collection: Hope
I wish I watched movies like 'Hidden Figures' when I was a kid, and maybe I would've taken science classes super seriously, because I saw myself.Collection: Movies
I would love to be producing movies, acting in more movies, and doing projects that are Oscar-worthy... have kids, be married, all that, being a normal human being as well, balancing it all out.Collection: Movies
In my mind, I don't really see myself as being famous. I just think my work is being exposed to a bigger audience.Collection: Famous
I needed to take a break from acting, because I really idolized it. So I came off from it, and I went on a journey to discover my relationship with God, and I became a Christian. It really just gave me so much love and light within myself. I felt secure, like I didn't need validation from anyone else, or getting a part.
When I was a kid, people bullied me about my weight and being skinny. Throughout my teenage years, I had to just depend on the fact that, look, this is who God created me to be, so I'm going to depend on what's already there.
'Black Panther' has made me embrace my natural black hair. The representation of natural black hair in the film has made me reflect on myself.
Makeup is cool. I mean, you can turn up and feel really good and treat yourself, but it shouldn't be something you hang on to to validate your beauty or something you have to do to make you feel beautiful.
I don't come from a creative background. I don't know anyone in my family who is a musician or actor or singer. It's a lot of teachers, lawyers. Professional stuff like that.
That's something I would love to do - play leading roles and really hold it on my own in those leading roles.
I'm not trying to be famous, I'm not trying to be the next whatever. I'm just trying to be someone that contributes positivity with my talent.
So many young black women love science, technology, engineering, and maths. But that's not the widely held image of the kind of person who likes those things.
In my country where I was born, Guyana, we push more for education. It's more being a lawyer, doctor, teacher, or scientist.
I'm really proud of the Time's Up movement, and I hope it continues and it grows stronger and that it can really be established.
I have little brothers and sisters, and they annoy me a lot, but I love them so much because they're so smart and witty.
Everybody has their thing that they're truthful about. My thing is just a love of God... so that's what I'm going to do.
I don't really consider myself religious. I view it more as a relationship. And if anyone thinks that's weird, then okay.
With 'Black Panther,' it was like stepping up to the plate, working crazy hours, and still bringing your best to the table every time.
Tottenham was a dope place to grow up because it's so community-based. It's a melting pot of cultures. I'll always be a north London girl.
I started doing amateur theatre and played Rosa Parks at the age of 12 or 13. At 16, I decided it was what I wanted to do.
I didn't see a lot of role models or women who looked like me on screen when I was growing up. For me, one thing that changed all of that was seeing Keke Palmer in 'Akeelah and The Bee.' That film made me realize that I wasn't an alien.
I'm not perfect. As a Christian, you're not perfect, you know, but you're walking every day and trying to stay connected.
Say you want to be with someone, and you're doing something that they don't really like. They're gonna ask you to stop it, just for a moment to take a look at them, to see them clearly. That's what God wanted for me.
I gave my life to Christ, and I thought that would be it for me, and He was, like, 'No, you're not finished with acting; acting is not finished with you. This is your talent. Go back into it, but you're going back into it with a heart that's not obsessive over it.'
As soon as I was obedient to just taking a chance on God, all of these things that you're seeing - 'Black Panther' or 'Humans' or 'The Commuter' or Steven Spielberg - it came right after I took that break.
I love theater - it's where every actor should begin, the core of acting. But I feel that there's something about film that's captivating; it takes you to another , and you get to really be so connected with it.
I think the more open-minded people we have - like casting directors and producers - the better things are going to be.
Where I go, where He takes me, that's where I need to spread the love of God. Because people's souls are dying. My soul was dying. And He saved me.
I just want to do something meaningful in the world. I want to contribute positively. That means the roles I get to play as well.