Biografia

Is one of three African-American actresses (the other being Whoopi Goldberg and Angela Bassett) to be nominated for an Academy Award in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.

Is one of five actresses to receive an Oscar nomination for a performance with less than 10 minutes of screen time.

Has an adoptive daughter: Genesis Tennon (b. July 10, 2010) with husband, Julius Tennon.

Is the first black actress to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Le regole del delitto perfetto (2014).

Is one of 15 actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony all in acting categories). The others in chronological order are Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Booth, Rita Moreno, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Anne Bancroft, Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn, Helen Mirren, Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange and Glenda Jackson.

We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.

[on why she's not inspired to direct] I can't deal with actors! I can't deal with myself. We're neurotic and miserable... I love doing what I'm doing, but while I'm doing it, I'm miserable.

[on undertaking the role of Aibileen Clark in The Help (2011)] I absolutely feel that she just had the nurturing instinct. You know, it's like my mom. She's said she's taken care of kids since she was four years old, and she's now sixty-eight. That's all she knew, which was to take care of kids. She also had seventeen of her brothers and sisters and cousins and all of that - and she was always taking care of them. I myself was delivered by my grandmother.

The thing about the African-American community compared with the white community is, we are more concerned with image and message than execution. I don't play roles that are necessarily attractive or portray a positive image. They are well-rounded characters. When you squelch excellence to put out a message it's like passing the baton and seeing it drop.

[on roles for African-American actresses] You're not doing the Irish and Scottish accents they taught at Juilliard. In the real world you're doing Ebonics and Jamaican.