You have to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow. And as an actor, you don't become Meryl Streep by doing the same type of comedy. You get there by being challenged. And unfortunately, there's a lack of roles for women of color, so you actually have to be the engineer creating some of those roles.
One of the roles of a U.S. ambassador - anywhere in the world - is to promote bilateral trade and investment.
I don't believe a role can be written keeping in mind some actor. Even if such roles exist, I don't pick them because I generally choose roles that I think will suit my image.
Definitely when you get handed roles like Joel in 'The Last of Us,' that's something that will change your life, and I learned so much from that role.
I like the character roles. Somewhere back there I really came to the conclusion in my mind that the difference between acting and stardom was major. And that if you become a star, people are going to go to see you. If you remain an actor, they're going to go and see the story you're in.
It's about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along. That's partly because I found myself getting typecast, as everyone does unless they pursue roles that are very different from what they've done before.
For years, they cast me in these dumb straight roles of businessmen in three-piece suits.
As a company grows from 25 to 50 to 100 to 200 to 500 to 1000 people, the characteristics of who is the very best talent in leadership roles will change. It's rarely the case that your leadership team at 1000 people is the same leadership team you had a 25 people.
I can't believe I've been doing it so long. In the last three or four years, I've slowed down. I'm doing only the roles I really want to do.
Because I'm not perfect looking, I get to play better roles.
I played teen roles until high definition came out, and I could never understand it. I would go in for adult roles and be older than many of the people auditioning, but they'd cast the girl without a line on her face.
In my teens or twenties I wanted to do Blanche. Now I'm over that. Those roles are not attracting me now. Which is odd, because that's what most every actress would want to go do.
I grew up idolizing Madeline Kahn and Lily Tomlin and Carol Burnett, Ruth Gordon, Rosalind Russell, Amy Irving, women who were stylish and real actresses who did real work and could not be replaced with anyone else. You cannot cast anyone else in Madeline Kahn's roles.
There are definitely roles within this industry that are industry-related, but to be a good actor, you really have to want to act first. At the same time, my goal was never to go to Hollywood to make movies. I think if you come here with that attitude, then you've missed a few steps.
You know, right now, they say - I don't know who says this, but somebody told me - there's three male roles to every female role. And I guess I'd work on evening that up. Making great roles for women. It's just such a huge challenge.
I have an affinity for good roles in good films. I like a variety of parts, and if some of the good stuff happens to be in fantasy and horror, I do them.
I want to play a character that is cold. I think there are sides of me that are like that. I'm a fan of the actor Edward Norton, and if you see his early works, he plays a lot of those roles.
When you put a group of actors together who get along, and we have since day one, they don't become like their roles. What tends to happen is their age disappears and they all deal with each other as friends.
I'm a quarter Chinese and three-quarter Filipino. I don't look Filipino; I look more Chinese or Korean. It actually works in my favor: in terms of roles, it gives me a broader canvas.
There are roles I have said no to, but for different reasons. And, I never talk about those because I feel it's disrespectful to say, 'Oh, I said no to this project or that other project.' I'd rather talk about the ones that I said yes to and the reasons why.
I like roles that people don't recognize me in.
I want to play roles that I'm proud of, that I feel a certain integrity about, and I want to continue to be truthful in the work that I do.
I love taking on roles that I haven't yet done in my career.
I was always longing to do, emotionally and physically, what my male counterparts always got to do. I just felt envious, every time I saw a movie that I was in awe of, and it was usually a male lead. And those kinds of roles weren't available. They just weren't being written.
I haven't been in a position to have the luxury to pick roles for most of my career, so I'm not practiced in that. Usually, when you want to be an actor, you take whatever comes along. If there's an audition, you go for it. If you get the job, you do it - just to get experience, to act, to meet people.
I know that I've played a lot of comedic roles. It's a visual medium. When you get one role, you start to get cast in that role for awhile because that's what people have seen you do, and have hopefully seen you do it successfully.
I've been very lucky with the roles that I've played in that they were wonderful roles for women. They're incredible, flawed characters that I really gravitate toward. I just never want anybody to be able to put me in a box.
I left my cushy job as an engineer in New Delhi in 2008 to pursue acting in Mumbai. I figured roles will start pouring in as soon as I landed in the city, but my bubble burst quickly.
If I was blond and tall, then I would have had 10 times the competition. I auditioned steadily and performed for everyone who would hire me. Now I am in a position to pick and choose my roles.
The roles that I feel I get, or handed to me, or whatever, are not that interesting. I don't think it's a problem that's specific to black women. I think it's a problem that's specific to movie-making in America.
I have two dream roles: One would be a biopic of someone I admire and respect and the other one would be some sort of action drama film similar to a 'Bourne Identity.' I just really want to do an intelligent action drama film.
I'm an actor. I play roles in films and theaters. I don't act out, and I don't play people.
If you're a sexy actress, it's hard to get serious roles. You get offered the same thing they've seen you in. People are like sheep, and they're like, 'Oh, that's what she does well.'
As much as I would love to do roles in big movies and am keen to establish myself in the industry. I don't want to sacrifice things that I really enjoy, like spending time with my family and friends.
Of course I am happy to play in any of the attacking roles, but for me, where I can score the most goals is down the middle.
I just want to keep at it. I can't wait to see, after years of being around, the roles I can play when I'm a crazy old lady.
