Marsai Martin

Sometimes I go Go Karting. Just regular old kid stuff.

Everyone thinks you have to grow up to know who you are, but kids already know who we are. The world just beats it out of us.

I used to be the shy kid who would barely raise her hand or speak her mind.

My parents and I always look at movies and just think, 'What's missing?' from the plot to the people of color or diversity in general.

A lot of people will say different stuff like, 'You can't do it.' They'll say no before I even say anything. You just have to believe in yourself, and there's a reason they might say no, because they probably haven't seen it before.

I just want to keep on creating stuff that people can relate to and inspire anyone who feels like their voice isn't heard; being relatable and being as authentic as possible is the whole goal of my production company.

It's people who look like me, just seeing representation of everyone. I didn't get that when I was young. I only saw one black girl that was on a Disney show, that was known for being the sassy, coocoo, that type of girl.

My parents would watch movies like 'Big' and 'Freaky Friday,' and I wanted to see that kind of story told from an African-American angle. So I had the idea for 'Little,' and then I told my parents, and we all fleshed it out together.

I don't want to be known as just an actress. I want to be known as an entertainer and entrepreneur.

I am so excited for the magic I'll be able to create and produce with Universal.

I think now I get to create and inspire more young black girls to continue doing what they love and reach for the stars.

My parents took a chance and sacrificed their jobs and a big move to California. And they were like, 'Are you sure you want to do this? We're literally packing up this whole house.' And I would always say, 'Yeah.' I'm six years old. And they were like, 'OK, if she wants to do this and this is her passion, then let's do it.'