Women were real box office stars in the '40s, more so than men. People loved to see women's films. I think it was better then, except for the studio system.

In the theater, you go from point A to point Z, building your performance as the evening progresses. You have to relinquish that control on a film.

The adrenaline of a live performance is unlike anything in film or theater. I can see why it's so addictive.

I'm hard on myself, so I'm working on shifting perspective toward self-acceptance, with all my flaws and weaknesses.

I wanted to do a show about a family that is absolutely black. Because as Du Bois has shown, we do have to live a double consciousness every day in the world. We have to walk our path and walk the mainstream path, and there's never really been a show that's talked about what that's like.

It's kind of like I won a gold medal with my family.

Before filming 'The Crown,' I couldn't care less about the royal family. But now... I'm obsessed.

I happened to the be the fifth child of my family, so everybody was already grown and had left home already.