Aja Naomi King

A man should be well groomed. If you're going to have facial hair, it should be a choice, not an accident. ”

If all we remember are good things, then happiness is our baseline, and there's no longer happiness. We need other feelings in order to appreciate others. ”

I'm a little bit of a control freak, so it's been nice to learn to let go and just trust others. ”

The advice that I was always given when asking for advice about acting was that if I could imagine myself doing anything else, anything else at all, then go do that. ”

I've been performing since I was a child; my mother would have to pull me aside and tell me that I wasn't onstage. I was a cheerleader, president of choir, and in the school play. ”

I was getting in my own way. I would quit jobs and step out on hope and faith, and pray to God that I would book something that would allow me to just continue to act. ”

I really care about people, and I would need someone to also genuinely value other human beings and want to be connected with people in the world and to know about other cultures. That might not be a high standard for someone else, but for me, it's really important to try and stick to that. ”

I love the powerful woman who's complicated. There's no push to be one thing or another thing. It's all human. That's what you look for as an actor: characters written and portrayed in the most human way possible. ”

When you do a play, you have all this time to rehearse and grow into the character. In television, even though you're waiting and waiting and waiting, once you're actually on set engaging in the scene with another actor, time is of the essence. ”

Words can't describe how one would feel in that moment after doing a test for something you really want but in your heart you don't think you have a chance of getting. ”