Quotes About Representation

I read the script, and I knew it was a good part. It was written for a white actor. That's what I'm up against - I have to try to make roles happen for me that aren't written black.

Lot of the scripts I've been in with other non-white actors haven't been great. Lot of non-white actors ain't all that great.

Audiences want to watch heroine-oriented films, and even writers are writing scripts for women. I am very happy to see this change.

I was drawn to gay parts because of their scripts, what the roles offered.

These kinds of scripts telling the stories of women are very rare.

I am deeply moved by sculptures of powerful women.

I had to work up the courage to even imagine myself running for Congress. But I eventually decided that our country had a moral problem in only letting white men - even the right-minded ones - have a seat at the table.

As only the second Jewish person to lead a federal party with seats, I will say that antisemitism has no place in politics.

When I was on 'Doubt' on CBS, there was a 60-second scene, but in that 60 seconds, people were so affected because it was trans women in a very normalized situation.

Diversity in media is something that is intrinsic to a democratic society. We do not want the whole media owned by one person.

Who has ownership over stories these days?

As people of color, it took a whole generation in many ways to get us out of the kitchen, and it's gonna take us the same whole generation to get us back into the kitchen and have ownership of restaurants, hotels and stuff like that.

I think that's the reason why I'm proud to play for Belgium - because I can take ownership. I'm not saying that I'm not proud of being Congolese as well - but I'm saying this is also my country, and anything that happens in my country, I want to have a say.

The Rooney Rule is intended to give minorities an opportunity to sit down in front of ownership, but I think what it's turned into is an instance where guys are just checking the box. That's been the case. I've been on some interviews in the past where I've had that feeling.

I truly believe there's all the Deadpools that have existed, and there's Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, who is now the Deadpool for the world. He owns that voice.

I'm just trying to play against ethnicity. I got to play a guy from Louisiana in 'The Pacific' named Merriell Shelton, and now I'm playing Elliot Alderman.

I think diverse stories are just stories. I don't think 'diverse' is an add-on package. Things that are not diverse are weird because that's not accurate.

I know what it's like to turn the page of a magazine and not see anyone like you. It takes a lot, a lot, a lot of talking to yourself to confirm your self-worth.

Any time you read a book and get attached to the characters, to me it's always a shock when it goes from page to screen and it's not exactly what was in my head or what I was imagining it should be.

I can't tell you how many incredible directors I long to work with, but then I look at their IMDb page, and they haven't made a single movie about a woman.

In the midst of observing the world and coming to consciousness, I was becoming a writer, and what I wanted to put on the page were the stories of people who looked like me.

When I looked at 'Dear White People,' you have four African-American students who are all very different and who are trying to figure out who they are. They're dealing with identity issues and crises. That is exciting to me, to see African-American young people on a page, on a screen, who are so diverse and whose stories are all so different.

At the age of 18, I had participated in a beauty pageant. I represented India and won the title. That was my last competition. First and last.

I made history being crowned the second black woman to win Miss U.S.A. and I was fifth place in The Miss Universe pageant.