Quotes from Grace Gealey

There a lot of other things I love to do. I consider myself as an artist, so I dance, I paint, I sing, so as long as I'm creating, I'm happy.

My mother is Afro-Caribbean and my father is Caucasian-American, and I was born in Pennsylvania and moved to the Cayman Islands when I was about 2. So I grew up there with my mother, and it's really all I know. I grew up there until it was time to go to college, and that's when I moved back to America.

As a child, I was always interested in drama and performance.

I do miss my hair because I used to do so much stuff with it, but I do like different levels of short. I had a super short pixie before, and I loved it.

Forgiveness isn't simply an option or a good idea; it is mandatory for our restorative process.

There's something scary, knowing that in Florida, someone can pick you up in a car and drive you to 50 states. Back home, it's like, 'Girl, you're 15 minutes away.'

I'm really easy to please and not high-maintenance at all. I like that chill, not stressed-out kind of lifestyle.

Living the life I have lived - being raised by deaf parents, assimilating to a different culture, and the challenges I have faced over time - has given me insight to the fact that each person has their own complex, intricate story, and it's rarely what I suspect it is. We must have compassion and grace for each other. We must.

Let us swell with gratitude and allow it to overwhelm us. It isn't as cliche as we make it; life truly is short. Let's spend it all lavishly wallowing in gratitude.

I was raised by a single black deaf woman, so I am as independent as they come.

Having racially diverse casts on television is a more accurate depiction of the demographic of the world we live in.

Because of the fact that being a professional actor is not a career that is widely pursued back home in the Cayman Islands, I never thought it was a viable profession. It didn't even cross my mind. So when I knew I wanted to do theater, I didn't think 'actress,' even though I loved to perform.

Even though there will be times when I'll need to protect myself - there will definitely be times when I'll have to put up my guard just to monitor what comes in and out of my life - there's a grace there... no pun intended!

Back home, we watch a lot of movies, and that was never available to us. When I came to America, I was like, 'No, it's really coming out this Friday? Not three months from now?'

If necessary, I cry. I pray. I rest. I'm fortunate to have quite a few strong, independent, loving, and unbiased women in my life that I can talk things through with.

I used to have really long hair. It was a big fro with mad curls.

Everybody has a different journey. Everybody has a different path, and you don't really know what to expect. All you know is to just keep plugging away, and you hope something will come through and something will happen.

Disrespect is tired. Shade is old. Sipping 'tea' isn't cute. But loving, supporting, giving, being grateful and perpetuating light, is.

I honestly believe in a force that's larger than our own.

Honestly, I'm very much a tomboy.

I understand that there are a few roles out there and tons of actors. Just because you don't get the big break doesn't mean you're not worthy or that what you have to offer isn't valid.

Love is accepting your truest, most authentic expression of self, and allowing yourself to do the same with others.

'Empire' deals with the black experience, the human experience, sibling rivalry, what it feels like to be ignored or doted upon by a parent, illness, death. There are so many things that I think the audience can identify with.

The greatest lesson I have learned in life is that I am enough simply because I have been given life. Growing up, I constantly found myself trying to please others because I wanted to be included and validated. I expended myself completely.