Personally, especially as a young black woman, I didn't think that Los Angeles was a place for me to start. There's a certain type that they go for or don't.
In L.A., being an actor is like a pastime, everybody there is like, "I was on this reality show; I'm an actor." It becomes a word that is loosely thrown around.
[In New York,] when you say you're an actor, there's a certain level of respect that goes with that.
I wanted to become an actor and I knew that if I was really going to do it, I needed the training. I was not one of those people that was like, "I got it." I was like, "No, I don't have it yet. I need work. I need help fixing myself."
When I'm in Los Angeles, sometimes I hesitate saying that I'm an actor because people are like, "Of course you are." And I'm like "No, not, 'Of course I am.'"
My first exploration through art was really through music - I've trained classically with piano for about ten years.
I think even when I was little there was signs that I was an artist. I've always been an artist.
My mom was really busy when I was growing up, but she did a really good job in terms of balancing her home life with her professional life. She basically took me everywhere.
The directors were often really nice and I was well behaved, so I would just sit there in rehearsal. That allowed me to see the process - not just the result, the red carpet, all of the wonderful, fun things that happen afterwards - the nuts and bolts, the nitty-gritty, "Let's try to build this character from the page," tech rehearsals.
There are a lot of celebrities that I think can get a little bit distracted by the way that our society views celebrity. All of a sudden, the film becomes about, "Come see this celebrity!" I'm not interested in that. I want to see a story.
I grew up in the theater with my mom and that's how I knew I wanted to be an actor in the first place.
My favorite films are when all of the technicalities are so seamless and so well done that I'm not thinking about them - you're able to go full-on into the story versus talking about edgy this moment was.
I've realized that a lot of people go to see film or theater with a different expectation. I have a friend who's an actor and I can't stand watching movies with him because he never quite allows himself to just watch the story. He'll comment on the lighting, he'll comment on the [camera] angle. I'm not saying there's a wrong way to watch it - maybe that's helpful to him - but to me, you're getting way too caught up in the technical aspects.
I realized that once I graduated from college, there might be a period of time where people might typecast me or be more limiting, and I might not be able to play a crazy character. For me, it was important to do that at least in school.
My view of myself as an artist expanded because of the time I spent at Cal Arts.
My thing is that if you don't really connect to something or see that it's going to be something you're going to be proud of, I wouldn't do it.
The big challenge is finding something new without changing completely what you've already done - going deeper into what you've already done and discovering new things while carrying out the same intention.
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