Don't compare your career to anyone else's. It's tough when you're in a business that's competitive. I was having a difficult time with that in college. Now, I'm having to learn to be patient and be where I am.
Danielle Brooks
I don't drink coffee, but I do try to find a way to get some chocolate in every day.
I love 'Insecure.' I want to play Issa Rae's sister. I do know Issa Rae, but we ain't besties or nothing.
You reap what you sow, and sometimes the soil can be very dry, and sometimes it will bring a lot of rain.
I've gotten rejected a lot.
I'm a country girl. We lived in a neighborhood, but at the back of the house, there was a little pathway with a creek and a trail. And we would go there, me and my brother. It was always an adventure in our imagination.
Sometimes I need a slower pace, to slow my mind down and just be with nature, go outside.
Personally, I don't want to live with limitations. If there comes a time where I am dying to play Juliet or Macbeth, I want to make those avenues for myself.
I grew up spending a lot of time in church, almost every day, whether in choir rehearsal or praise team or Bible study - there was always a reason.
I think theater and church are so relatable because it's traditional call-and-response in the way that an audience interacts with the actors.
In Greenville, we were blessed to have lots of youth arts programs. I changed middle schools to go to an arts middle school. Then, when high school came, I went to normal high school for a little while before auditioning for the Governor's School for Arts and Humanities.
I like to play people who are underdogs and misfits. People who are not on a straight and narrow path. That's exciting for me.
My biggest thing is telling a truthful story, something that is rooted in something and is very honest. If I read a script and you want me to take off my top, and it doesn't serve a purpose, then I'm not going to do it.
In South Carolina, there's a lot of arts programs. So I was blessed enough to go to the Governor School For Arts & Humanities.
My mother is a pastor. I think she has her moments where she's like, 'Dani, what are you getting into,' but at the end of the day, she really supports me as an actor.
Because I've worked with Netflix from the beginning, and that's my first job, I only want to work with creators, producers, and networks that are pushing the limit and putting people on the screen that haven't had their stories told yet.
That's very, very important to me, to give another narrative. And Netflix has not been afraid of doing that, as we see from the plethora of shows that they have, from British shows to American shows like 'Master of None,' which I've been very grateful to be on, too. Just giving platforms to people who haven't seen themselves on TV.
I went to Juilliard, for God's sakes. I know a little something about combat.
I always wanted to be a Broadway girl. But once I got Tony-nominated, it really messed with me, because it was like, yes, I'm getting this affirmation that you're right where you're supposed to be, but there was still this voice saying, 'You're not good enough.'
I want to design clothes that I wish I could have worn when I was a teenager.
I want to be in everything, but that's because I haven't seen someone who looks like me in everything. I want to play a superhero. I want to be the love interest. I want to write my own stuff and create my own projects. I want to be in French films.
I just want to be fully challenged as an artist, so that anyone who looks like me, who relates to me, says, 'Oh, if Danielle did it, I can.'
I've always said that actor years is like dog years: it feels like forever when you're not working.
It wasn't until I saw 'The Color Purple' on Broadway when I was 15 that I really solidified acting is what I want to do professionally.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice your pride to really go after what you want.
I was always getting caught for running my mouth. Which is why it was the best thing for me to get into acting so I could express myself.
For me, it's important to be the representation that I wanted when I was a young girl.
I feel that we all have missions and purposes in life. Part of mine is allowing women to feel beautiful in whatever they put on - or don't put on.
Designing wasn't something that I was always into, but I wasn't able to find clothes that I wanted to wear. I wanted to be able to walk into any store and have an idea of what I want and go and get it.
Clothing is so much a part of who we are; that's our way of expressing ourselves.
The sassy black woman who can land a good joke was sort of my go-to audition. Or playing a struggling mother.
I don't necessarily have one mentor or 'a' mentor. But I do pull inspiration from people, and that's always kind of served me well.
I've always known I wanted to be an actress. I didn't know quite how I was going to get there because I come from a small town called Simpsonville, South Carolina.
