I come from a family of storytellers. Growing up, my father would make up these stories about how he and my mother met and fell in love, and my mother would tell me these elaborately visual stories of growing up as a kid in New York, and I was always so enrapt.
Aja Naomi King
There are people who do what they believe is right, but as they say, 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'
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.
I'm a little bit of a control freak, so it's been nice to learn to let go and just trust others.
It was a given at UCSB that if there was a role that called for a person of color, it was going to be handed to me. There were certain times when maybe I didn't try as hard. Going to Yale was a way more diverse experience.
When I was younger, it was harder for me to find a black eyeliner that would actually show up on my skin. Being a dark-skinned woman, when you find something that actually shows up on your face, you love it even more.
As artists, we thrive when we can express our comfort and our discomfort. If a certain scene is really challenging for us, if we're in an environment where we feel safe, we're able to do our work.
In this day and age, when there are so many people creating work online and writing their own shows, I wouldn't tell another actor, 'If you can do anything else go do that.' I would tell them to figure out the story they want to tell, to figure out what artists inspire you and why, and then figure out a way you can create that for yourself.
If I had a free afternoon, I would play music, sit in my backyard, and drink coffee.
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 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'm obsessed with eyeliner - the darker and kohl-ier, the better.
To meet someone who wants to fight to just tell the truth about what's happening in government... this is a real life superhero right here.
When I was younger, my mother tried to get me an agent because I was always singing and dancing, but whenever she took me to an audition, I would just shut down.
I always think - when I get mad, and people say, 'Don't be the angry black woman' - it's like, well, why not? There's so much to be angry about.
I have a girl crush on Olivia Munn so much, especially on 'Newsroom.' And Cara Delevingne, but who doesn't love her face? Viola Davis is my acting crush.
My hair routine is to let someone else do it.
I majored in theater, so I'd love to get back on a stage.
I love thigh highs, heels, shorts, or a skirt.
Being on a show with a female lead is amazing for me. I love that.
By high school, I was telling everyone, 'Oh, I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up,' because my dad was always saying to me, 'Pick a career path where you're always going to be necessary.' But by junior year, I was president of choir, I was the lead in the school play, and I just loved being onstage performing.
I can be just a touch controlling!
I use Pureology Shampoo and Conditioner, and after shampooing, I'll put the conditioner on, go watch a movie, and wash it out later. When you have black girl hair, once we wash, we've gotta do the whole press and get in the edges and everything. That's a lot of heat to go back to straight on a daily basis.
I have a lovely light blue Kate Spade wallet. It has pockets for many credit cards, business cards, health insurance cards, and a Burke Williams card for when I want to go to the spa!
Back when people couldn't read, other people would take newspapers and turn them into theater so that people would know what was going on in the world. That is a powerful thing.
To relax, I love sitting back and turning my brain off and watching TV.
We all have our family issues from time to time.
Not to say there's not good TV out there, but I think TV is better when it accurately reflects the world as it is.
I think it's well-known that I love all things ABC and Shonda Rhimes - I'm a huge 'Scandal' and 'Grey's Anatomy' fan.
Strength doesn't mean an absence of pain.
TV is such a great medium in what it can do in terms of enlightening an audience. We can really inspire and teach people about other people. That's a powerful tool, and that's something that the arts has always been capable of doing.
Not everyone's high standards have to be the same thing.
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.
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.
Diversity is such an interesting word. I feel like when people hear the word 'diversity,' they think that it means only people of color, when in reality, diversity is all-inclusive; it means everyone.
A man can get my attention by smiling at me and then coming over and talking to me. The best way to get a girl's attention is to start a conversation.
A man should be well groomed. If you're going to have facial hair, it should be a choice, not an accident.
I thought I was going to be on Broadway. I thought, 'I'm going to do theater.'
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.
Sometimes as human beings, we're so contradictory - we may say something or do something and completely contradict ourselves. That's what I'm learning to embrace in television - not knowing what's going to happen.
I want to write. I want to direct. I want to produce - I want to inhabit what I think it means to fully be an artist.
The problem of sexism is getting better, but I don't know if it's getting better fast enough. We see more roles for women that don't entirely revolve around the way in which they function in a man's life, but typically those women are almost always white, and even then, there are only a few of them.
Studying acting has been personally enriching because it has taught me to take the time to imagine what someone else's life experience might be like. To look deeply at how our pasts and the circumstances of our early childhoods mold us as people.
Sometimes people just need to feel heard, and being an actor has taught me to really listen.
Create something for yourself that you feel proud of, that you are in control of, that gives you a better understanding of the type of artist you want to be.
I've been trying to eat healthier, but sometimes it doesn't work out when you're sitting in front of the TV drinking wine, and you realize you really need ice cream to go along with it.
It gets a little crazy at Disneyland. It's a little bit more hardcore then people think.
Love is a complicated emotion because you can learn something or hear something that goes against what you have come to know personally. It can be very challenging to what you believe.
I love Haagen Daaz Caramel Cone, or the Ben and Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake. Pairs well with anything.
I saw 'Birth' at the Sundance Film Festival with a thousand other strangers, and I couldn't believe that was me in the film. I didn't recognize myself.
