Quotes from Nicole Ari Parker

We're all moving at such a high rate that we have to grab the frozen dinners and the McDonald's. We can't make it a way of life - we have to get back to real, simple, clean good foods. It will save our lives on so many levels; not just spina bifida, but obesity, diabetes, everything. Food is our medicine.

Not just as a black woman, but as a woman, since the beginning of time, beauty has been our responsibility.

Being a pedestrian again is very exciting because in L.A. you live in your car, and you're on a freeway all the time.

I couldn't imitate anyone if I wanted to.

I did everything pretty cliche as an actor in New York. I read the trades, I sent out 'head shots.'

God loves you and everything about you, so why beat up on your precious self.

I can be really silly, but I never get to do that. I'm always playing on-the-nose characters, professionals - lawyers, a serious news anchor, people with a really focused energy, which can become a cliched type.

I love the theater. I love being on stage; I love the live audience. I also love dressing up and all of the make-believe.

I think 'Soul Food' had the biggest impact on me because that's where I was really able to shine as an actress and because I also met my husband there, and that was a huge turning point in my personal life. So, that show will stick with me forever and ever and ever.

I had a brilliant drama teacher while I was at Roland Park: Ann Mainolfi. But the school was mostly rich in academics. It wasn't like I was prepping myself for a life in acting. There, you prepped yourself to have a stable future. The school's piece de resistance is college prep - it didn't teach you how to audition for a TV show.

All kids want from their dad is for them to be around - and to show up when they say they're going to show up.

Every parent knows this moment in a child's age when he or she needs your attention in a very specific way because it's the beginning and ending of the early life of imagination. It's such a responsibility.

I'm really into nutrition from the inside out.

I'm kind of floating out there as an artist. I'm in a safe place where I can play a girlfriend or a best friend or a mommy or a lawyer, but a huge part of me is unused. I'm classically trained, historically inclined and somewhat revolutionary by nature, so I'm frustrated as an artist.

I enjoy using coconut oil - not only for my skin and hair, but I'll digest it.

You have to work hard not to take your partner for granted, even when you are tired.

I have friends struggling with autism, juvenile diabetes.

My husband and I are loyal to our community and very approachable, even though we're kind of mainstream.

You think you need the newest shoe and the newest outfit. We forget exercising is free. We forget it only takes a little bit every day.

If you had to work 14 hour days, Mondays to Fridays, then you have to keep Saturdays and Sundays sacred.

Any actor will tell you that you go where the work is, especially when you have children.

I love Malcolm Lee and jumped on the opportunity to work with him as a director.

I have a real no-nonsense dad who taught me how to be resilient at a very young age.