I walk in a space of gratitude. I'm so grateful to God for blessing me with an amazing family and the opportunity to do what I love.
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
I come from a family of four brothers, so I like sports.
Little Richard played my uncle on 'Full House.' He's fabulous. I remember him being incredibly kind to me. I just remember him being super, super nice.
Everyone has a past, but I try not to let that affect the way I see them; I want to get to know who they are today.
Part of an ensemble show is realizing it's a collaboration. It's like a symphony. Everybody takes their turn, but it's really the collective group that matters.
I have a complex heritage: my mom is African American, and my dad is Jewish. Both were activists, and they met during the movement in the '70s.
Marriage is a work in progress, but it's beautiful.
I have respect for therapists in general, because they hear so many stories. It's a lot to hold and take in.
With 'Underground,' we see that the wounds that we all, as a nation, inflicted upon our brothers and sisters during slavery have not been healed.
There are so many people who will try and make you feel like your opinion doesn't matter, and I've learned how important it is to use your voice.
My mom is African-American, Native-American, Irish, and Creole, and my father is of Jewish, Russian, and Polish descent. It's made me who I am. Because of my diverse background, I think I can relate to many different people, different stories, and different communities.
There's something about driving through Texas, and it's hot, your skin is sticking to you. The environment affects your attitude and your swagger.
I like sitting down and watching games.
My mom is from New Orleans. And all of my maternal relatives were there during Katrina. We couldn't even find my uncle for four months. We literally didn't know where he was. I had been there just four days before the storm hit.
I'm very opinionated and passionate when it comes to my characters.
As women, I think we give so much of ourselves.
I love music, and I love drumlines. I like school bands a lot. There's nothing wrong with cheerleading, but I'd rather be a band geek. It's a little more interesting.
People look at you, and they think they know you. They think they can place you in a certain category by what they think they know about you. But there's so much more to all of us than what we know and what we see at face value.
I love to get in the library and just spend days researching characters.
The Underground Railroad, which was the first integrated civil rights movement, is a part of our history that not a lot of us know about. And it's actually a very empowering side of our history.
I try to give each performance my own soul, to bring a truth to my character. Hopefully, when I bring that much truth to a character, it resonates with somebody, and it sparks some kind of emotion in them.
I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn't exist; it's gross and disgusting.
Never let anyone silence your voice.
We used to play touch football, where you put the little rag in your pocket. I was good because I was fast. I wasn't the greatest at catching. Sometimes the ball would come so hard and fast that it'd knock the wind out of me.
I wouldn't even call myself a former child star. I was a child actor; there's a difference.
When I was younger, I really struggled with confidence.
My siblings are so talented. My sister's a producer, and my brothers and I all write.
With film, there's a consistency to it, but what I like about the TV shows that I've been fortunate to do, like 'Friday Night Lights' and 'True Blood,' is that it feels like you're doing a film.
'Full House' was the first time I had ever been in front of a live audience. I said a line I had rehearsed with my mom, and they laughed. It was wild. To have that energy of the live audience was like, Whaaat? Feeding off that live audience was, to a 4 or 5 year old, a high.
There's injustices within our system that we inherited from this time, from slavery, and until we confront our past, we're not going to be able to heal the wounds for our future.
Oftentimes, a history book in school will talk about the Underground Railroad as if it's one sentence. But thousands of people decided to run, and they single-handedly changed the trajectory of our nation. By running to the North, they put a face to slavery, which recruited a lot of abolitionists.
A lot of the issues today may not affect us personally, but we can't stay in our comfort zone when it comes to protecting our brothers and sisters. We have to get out there and use our voices for them as well.
The AIDS epidemic began before I was born - I've never known a world without it. And yet, despite its omnipresence in our lives, there remains a pervasive silence around AIDS among young people, particularly young women.
I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but there are times where a role will require you to live in their world.
Vanessa Williams in person is like... the camera cannot capture how gorgeous this woman is! She is just so breathtaking.
I want to tell human stories not solely based on race. There are so many great actresses and actors that are out there, and I just want to see them do good work.
I'm so proud of 'Underground' because it's this thriller; it's this action- adventure. It's unexpected. People think it's gonna one be one thing - they think it's gonna be very depressing and downtrodden - and it's empowering.
My little brothers loved baseball. I'm not as big on that as basketball or football, but I understand the game.
I don't really think about the critics or the commercial success.
You go through those awkward, dorky, geeky stages, and growing up in the industry amplifies all that. Fortunately, I have a mother who encouraged me to build my confidence from within and embrace my imperfections.
I am oftentimes the ear for some people that I know and love. Which I like being. I don't know if I'd like being a marriage counselor, though, because that's too deep for me.
My best advice would be that you have to be vulnerable with each other. Like, everyone says you have to be honest, you have to communicate; like, yes, of course, but you gotta be willing to be vulnerable.
I'm a grandma at heart.
As an artist, you want to stretch. That's the only way you're going to grow. If I stay inside my comfort zone, do roles that I've done before, then I'm never going to get better as an actress.
I have so many passions outside of my passion for acting.
I just live my life. I go where I feel God is calling me.
My mom bought me an 'Anne of Green Gables' journal. And I just remember thinking it was so cool, and I could write anything in it.
You learn a lot about yourself just by writing it down.
If I have a jump rope and a resistance band, I can work out anywhere. Even without a jump rope. If you do 200 jumping jacks, then drop and do some crunches, and then do some squats, you're good.
That's something I've struggled with my entire life - people underestimating me.
