Quote

I love the role that men play in our lives.

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.

It's always a good idea to go up for the male roles. You go up against a bunch of beefy guys, and the casting director then feels smart for taking you on, like he's the one who thought outside the box.

As an agent, I functioned like a guy. But the fact that I was a woman affected everything.

After that, I was offered lots of lesbian roles, but I didn't want them because I'd already played the best there was.

I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies.

I was reading through endless junk scripts that were being sent my way. Typically the roles were to play his wife or his girlfriend - leading roles for women were few and far between.

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.

Growing up with three boys in a heavily male-dominated world, I especially needed to express myself as a woman.

When I started out, there were three things that made film people look at me with condescension, I was young, I was black, and I was female. I have won a certain respect, but I think the film community still sees directing as a male job.