You have to be resilient.
Gabrielle Union
I can't just say one time of the year I'm going to do something different. I have to commit to a lifestyle behavioral change and just try to be a little bit better today than I was yesterday.
I'm not going to change the world overnight. It's one person at a time, and hopefully they're people in positions of power who can help people get in those roles and really, truly embrace colorblind casting.
You get so afraid of failure and so afraid of losing and so afraid of not being the best that it's not a natural drive - it's born out of fear of failure. Which helps in Hollywood.
Hollywood needs to recognise all shades of African American beauty.
You come to work and you laugh all day, you go home and you feel light and there's a certain feeling when you're sitting with the audience and they leave after 90 minutes and it's just pure escapism and they're happy.
If someone lacked decency or respect, I didn't allow that person to stay in my world.
Drama can feel like therapy whereas comedy feels like there's been a pressure and a weight lifted off of you. You come to work and you laugh all day, you go home and you feel light and there's a certain feeling when you're sitting with the audience and they leave after 90 minutes and it's just pure escapism and they're happy.
If my real life was half as exciting as what is reported, I would be thrilled.
I think there's a lot of things that occur within the African-American community, that we would prefer to stay within the African-American community - that we get a little nervous when you start having scenes or dialogue that we know is going to be viewed and heard on a national or global scale.
We give a lot of others significance in our lives even when they don't deserve it. It doesn't matter if they're family or if you've known them forever. If they're not good for you, they've got to go.
I played sports year around: basketball, soccer, softball and I ran track year around, from the time I was, like, six, seven.
In Hollywood, you play a mom, and the next thing you know, you're on 'The Golden Girls.' They age you so fast.
I want to be Miss USA or Miss America. I would bring the trophy back to Nebraska. My interests are agriculture and corn. Hey, I'm just riding this train as long as I can. As long as I'm having fun, I'll do it. When it stops being fun, I'll try something else.
Hollywood panders to the 18-to-34 crowd. That demographic doesn't care about race and the package it comes in. They care about the hottest chick. They just like hot chicks.
When you want a break from dogs, and you take them to the kennel to the stars, no one thinks you're a bad pet owner. But when you have kids, you can't drop them off for three weeks without someone calling Child Protective Services!
I realized I had been keeping people around even when deep down I knew they were bad for me. I had overridden myself.
A lot of women seem to think the way to ingratiate themselves is to put down other women or backstab. That's the quickest way to be eliminated from my life - try that with me, and you're out.
My friends are very opinionated about the people I date.
I drink a gallon of water a day.
I had to learn - since I'm divorced now and everyone is like, 'Oh my God, you're single, what's going on?' - that if I don't like to spend time with myself, how can I ask someone else to enjoy spending time with me? I'm getting to learn how to enjoy my solitude and have a good time.
I'm just riding this train as long as I can. As long as I'm having fun, I'll do it. When it stops being fun, I'll try something else. Maybe I'll open up a chain of Popeye's Chicken.
I think I'm drawn to more villain-type characters, because it's so cool to get to say all the things you want to say. In Hollywood, you get to this position where you have to bite your tongue so much. You take all your experiences of not being able to say what you really want to say, and channel that through your character.
As a newly married person, as much as I would love for my husband to buy into the 'my way or the highway' philosophy, you realize it's all about compromising and finding some sort of middle ground that everyone can live with.
After Halle Berry does her films and Queen Latifah does her films, it's left to all the black, Latino and Asian actresses to fight over a couple of roles. I opted for some TV. There's just not a ton of work in film.
When someone who loves and cares about me compliments me, I feel more glamorous than when the flashbulbs are going off on the red carpet.
The guys I tended to date, you know, didn't necessarily have it altogether but I had a great time.
I don't get enough sleep so I always have undereye bags.
In Hollywood, marriages are kind of expected to fail.
I like meat and carbohydrates.
In Hollywood, you play a mom and instantly, you've got osteoporosis.
People think that celebs make a lot more money than we do. We look for bargains and we do a lot of stuff on our own.
I'm not sensitive, I'm not a weepy person.
There's no such thing as a healthy tan, and that's what people need to understand.
I love romantic comedies. They're for me the easiest thing to do and the most natural to do. There's nothing natural about holding an uzi hanging out of a moving van shooting at people. That's not second nature to me, thank God.
Within a lot of African-American households, I think, there's an idea that black men don't want to take an active participation in the lives of their children. That if they do, there has to be some sort of ulterior motive.
I like directors who have worked as actors. They know the experience.
We all have to let go of the Prince Charming complex and realize he doesn't necessarily exist in the package we assume he'll come in.
The black community in Hollywood is very small and close-knit. Everyone has a common goal: to make a two-hour movie in 30 days.
I love horses.
I just kind of assumed that you do a movie and then you leave and you hop onto the next thing. I never thought that people are actually buddies.
You want to come home to a nice firm bed with the corners tucked in so you start over, like each night is like a new night.
But I prefer to go to comedies. Give me Julia Roberts smiling anyday.
Sometimes it's not even a role that's specifically written for a woman. It could be a role written for a white man or Asian man, or Latino. If it's something that I feel I could do well, I go after it. Especially if it's nothing that has to be gender or race specific, I'm all over it.
You have to develop a very thick skin.
I think if we open ourselves to all different kinds of men and all groups, we find a lot more opportunities to love.
In my career, there have been roles I haven't taken because someone involved with the project gave me a bad vibe. I don't care how much money is on the table: No job is worth feeling uneasy every day.
I've dated a number of 'mama's boys.'
A couple of my friends started having babies, and I thought, 'Maybe one day, with the right guy.' I have to find the guy first.
I'm the kind of person whose clothes are all hung up and color-coordinated, to the point where my whites don't touch my creams.
