Quotes

I think there being a first black princess is going to be amazing for people of all backgrounds. Situations change, and they become extraordinarily challenging and sometimes hurtful. But the point of a Disney movie is that you can overcome these things, somehow, someway.

[on playing the role of Princess Tiana] I remember seeing "Snow White" and saying to my mother, "Will there ever be a Chocolate Brown?". She said "Probably. Why not?". I just never thought the first black princess would be me.

I feel like I am in such a beautiful spot right now, I feel like I'm living my fairy tale in this portion of my career.

Since I was a little kid I wanted to work for Disney, and I didn't need to be the princess! I would have been a tick or a flea!

I always dreamed of being a voice in a Disney movie, but even in those dreams, I never once dreamed of being a princess. I just wanted to be a voice. I feel like what an honor that this is how the dream comes true, bigger and stronger than I had even imagined it.

[on describing the high heel shoes she had to wear during the production of the Dreamgirls film in order for her to appear as the same height as her co-stars Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson] My heels were so high it's ridiculous. Five inches! I'm 5'2½", a lot shorter than Jennifer and Beyoncé. It was that or an apple box, and you can't dance on an apple box

[upon describing how little of an impact in which the film From Justin to Kelly made to the general public] There was a market for that movie. But when I went to see it there were 12 people in the theater, including myself.

[on what her most cherished memory was with Beyoncé & Jennifer Hudson during the production of the film Dreamgirls] I think the first thing that I remember and remember really fondly was the first moment that the three of us sang together... and that blend hit. Because a blend is not something that you can create, it's either there or it's not there. And it was fantastic.

It is still one of the most amazing things [and] it remains that. The fact that Princess Tiana will be there long after I'm gone, that she will be part of Americana, in a space that I don't think any of us thought we would be able to take up. It says a lot to children, it says a lot to little brown children definitely. That they can be princesses, that they have no doubt about it anymore. It says to their friends that don't look like them that they can be princesses and there's no question about that. There's no more pulling out your yellow towel and wrapping it around your hair so you can feel like a princess. It's a different time.

[after being asked if it was easy for her to work as a Broadway performer during her early days of living in New York City] Here I was working six days a week, and I found myself having to jump [subway] turnstiles for a week while I waited for that check to come in. So no, it's never been easy.

[on being asked if the film Dreamgirls already opened doors for her] Actually, I wrapped another film a few weekends after Dreamgirls closed. Closed... I'm still on stage. I'm working on a mini-series in Australia right now. And I have a movie that Mr. Glover and I will hopefully be working on this spring. I don't know if Dreamgirls opened those doors or not but definitely more people are aware of my name. It will allow me to be in a different pile in the head shot package.

[after being asked if she was proud to be part of the film production of Dreamgirls and if the film will open more doors to more film representation on milestones of African American history] I absolutely am so very proud and honored and grateful to be a part of this project and to be a part of something so positive and yet honest. Not positive in such a sense that you're walking out with a cavity, you know. It's true, it's honest, there's ugliness in it but it's not taking you to that stereotypical place that says all we can do is shoot each other and shoot up drugs and do stuff like that. It's the other story. It's showing us in glamour mode because we do that too. It's a really, really wonderful feeling to have young people come up to me and be excited about this and to send me messages on MySpace telling me: 'My God, I want to do what you do; you thrilled me so much. You have touched me. The movie that you did has made such a difference in my life.' That's not really why you do it when you're doing it, but when that type of thing comes to you and you realize that you've touched somebody in that way and made a difference and allowed them to see something different of themselves, that is the most fulfilling and amazing feeling ever.

[after being asked if acting in a film production like Dreamgirls is any different from acting in a stage production] I actually didn't approach it any differently than I approach stage. I think that as an actor you find your way to that character and you create that character from the inside out. This script was written so well and Bill [Condon] made such a comfortable environment that the oddest thing for me was dealing with the fact that things are not happening chronologically in film. So, you get there at 5am at 17-years-old, you have lunch at 25, you have a snack you're 93 [laughs]... So I made sure that on my script above each year I wrote the year and the age that I was so that I wasn't a schizo basically.

[after being asked if manipulation is something she ever used or witnessed during her career] I think absolutely so if you allow yourself to become susceptible to that. I think that it's up to you to decide how far you go and it's up to you to know yourself and to know what it is that steps out of your moral comfort zone. You have to decide how far you're going to go for what it is that you want and what it means to you. I've gone into auditions and you audition for an agent basically when you get out of school and decide that you want to be an actor. I had somebody tell me: 'Well, what type do you think you are?' I said: 'Well, I don't really know; it depends on the script...' And they said: 'Oh no, no, no we really need you to pick a type because that's how we put you out there.' But I said: 'I don't think that's something that I do, or want to do.' I think it's important to make those choices. For some people it works, to be a type, to be in that box. For me, I truly think make my own path and I've been lucky enough to have some great people that have helped me walk it very well.

[on working with Eddie Murphy during the production of the Dreamgirls film] I can say that one thing about Eddie is that he really is a beautiful person with a wonderful spirit. I think that what people don't know is that he is very still and very subdued and shy. So, working with him you're not working with somebody who is constantly on. You're working with somebody who, when they say 'action' is giving the most amazing performance ever and is so totally open to whatever it is that you're giving him. You have an amazing give and take and a wonderful electricity working between you and that is brilliant and phenomenal and constant with him. He's not the type of person that you're like: 'Oh please, don't make me laugh again.' He's just not that. The work he has done in this film I think has opened up a brand new venue of performance for himself. I don't think that people were really prepared to see him do something like this - the singing and dancing is great but the still moments, those quiet moments and poignant moments are absolutely breathtaking and beautiful. He is amazing.

[on why East of Eden is among her favorite films] I love East of Eden, there's so much passion. I was reading about how it was made, and how it was such a new thing for James Dean to be doing. One of those scenes was really improvisational between he and his father or mother, and he has this burst of emotion that came from nowhere, that he didn't even understand. He had such virility in that movie - I love it.

[on why Strangers on a Train is among her favorite films] There's something so twisted and sick - that man is sitting there on that train and he just looks so banal and smiling, and he is a killer. It's really a crazy movie.

[on why the 1964 My Fair Lady is among her favorite films] That's something I always wanted to do, damn that Keira Knightley! The costumes are phenomenal in that movie, the message is fantastic and there's just a grandeur and beauty in the scope. We don't even make movies with that kind of scope anymore; I don't think anybody would sit there for that long for that movie anymore. It's about being yourself, and not forgetting yourself really. Even though you move forward or you move up, you still are you. When they're at that racetrack she's talking to the horse and she's going, 'Go Clover,' and then she goes crazy shouting, 'Move your arse, Clover!' And she's got that phenomenal hat, fantastic dress on, but she's Eliza Doolittle you know? I love that movie, and why can't a woman be more like a man? I love that song; I love his confusion with that.

[on why Fantasia is among her favorite films] Oh I just love Fantasia. I played that for my nephew when he was two, and I don't believe in popping children in front of the television as a babysitter, but I feel like, you know what? 'I'm introducing you to classical music; I'm introducing you to classic cartoons, so watch it!' It's a beautiful way to take music and to take your mind to a place of no words.

[on Bedtime Stories for the Littles, the series she created during the COVID pandemic] I love reading to kids, and I wanted to give our little people something soft and soothing in this very jarring moment in time. I thought a bedtime story would be the perfect way. I can give my voice to the ones who know it best, without anyone leaving home.

[on kids dealing with the COVID pandemic] Kids are free spirits. As hard as it is for adults to be practicing distancing and quarantine, often kids don't really understand what's going on, or why they're stuck inside. This situation has also removed their ability to burn off energy if they're inside most of the day. The little ones feel the stress that we adults are carrying with us, even when we think we're hiding it, and all of this makes sleep more difficult for busy little minds and bodies, and-let's be honest-the adults who care for them.

[on the reception of her Bedtime Stories for the Littles! series] It made me really happy to do it, and the responses filled my heart and let me know it resonated with both children and parents. It's just the beginning.

[after being asked if From Justin to Kelly is a watchable film for her] I recently watched it with my nephew! He was like, 'Aunty, that's you!' I watch and I have a good time because I feel like what I did was good work. Sometimes you do good work in something that isn't the best piece of work as a whole, but it doesn't take away from you. You walk in with your A-game and that's what you do! Also, my body was so bad-a**ed, I am telling you I have never been that fine in my life! So sometimes I just look at it and go, 'Ummm, look at me!' When they told me I was going to be in a bathing suit and we were going to be on the beach and we only had four weeks of rehearsal, I whipped that girl into shape! I said, 'I am not going to be 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide looking crazy with my New York winter body.' You know the New York winter body, that is serious business! That's meatloaf, potatoes and stuff. It wasn't so much about being skinny, it was about being tight. I didn't want anything to jiggle that I didn't make jiggle! [Laughs] So I am pleased, frankly. I think they should put my face on that body in that bathing suit at all times!

It is wonderful to have a black audience feel like there is a reason for them to come to Broadway and that their money is wanted, desired and appreciated. For so long, the subliminal message has been, 'We don't even want your money because we're not talking about you.'