Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm usually the one who creates most of my work. I have a lot of different ideas that I want to do, so I'm always like, 'Get on it, girl.'
My parents are my role models. All they've done for me, they're just major people in my life. They've stood by me and got me where I am today.
Just as many people that love me, hate me, too. I get really mean, mean, mean, mean comments on Twitter, and it just comes with the territory.
My father's a deacon, my mother's a choir director, so I grew up in the church and singing in the choir, begging my mom if I could have a solo.
I'm a workaholic, so I ignore the signs of fatigue and just keep going and going, and then conk out when I get home. It can be pretty stressful.
When people think of me initially, they remember me as 'Akeelah.' Sometimes it can be frustrating to be remembered at an age that you've outgrown.
I feel like you have to tell people who you are, but you don't have to be disrespectful about it. But you also don't have to be a shrinking violet.
Whether it be in acting, music, or even in dancing, I only want to do things that I truly connect to, and with my music, it's everything that I am.
You have to understand that when things go wrong in your life, it doesn't mean you need to quit. It means you need to get stronger and change your plan.
My work is my life. I've worked so much that I don't know the difference between my personal life and my work, or my personal friends and my work friends.
I would like to do a music person's story, a bio. I've wanted to do Aaliyah forever. But I don't want it to always be like, 'I'm singing again in a movie.'
I've been able to stay good because of my family and keeping God first. If you don't have God in your life, how are you going to navigate through this world?
Team playing, that's what I see when I'm out there watching the WNBA games. All the girls play as a team, and they have each other's backs, and that's great.
I named my album 'So Uncool' because it defies the ordinary: you're different from everyone else. It's like, being uncool makes you cool because you're different!
Actually, Keke is my nickname. When I was little, my sister was about four years old, and she had an imaginary friend named Keke. And she wanted my name to be Keke.
I love competing. I love a challenge. I love going in and showing people what I can do, proving to them that I can get this part, that I can give you what you want.
Sometimes, when you grow up in one of these poverty-stricken neighborhoods where the educational system isn't the best, you don't realize that you have any choices.
Working with Ice Cube was so tight. He's cool, and I really like how he does family stuff. My guy friends couldn't believe I was chillin' with him. Dudes love Ice Cube.
I have a few celebrity friends, but I'm really not into the whole Hollywood scene. I like to separate myself from my work. It stresses me out if I do too much of the same.
I grew up loving horror films. But I had to step away since I didn't want all that negative stuff in my psyche. I didn't want to conceptualize those thoughts into my life.
Whenever I get to talk to young girls like me I always say, 'The only difference between you and I is that I know that I'm special and you just don't know that you are yet.'
Even though I'm in the industry and I act and all this stuff, I still suffer from self-esteem issues... from the way that I look or the way that I talk... just nitpicking at myself.
I changed the pressure from negative to positive. So, instead of thinking everybody wanted to see me fail, I decided everybody wanted to see me win, since I wanted to see myself win.
I love clothes! I shop everywhere, but I like Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. It's a wide range. I'm from California, and I love the Pasadena Flea Market.
Comedians like to see people smile. With acting, I love giving people a feeling, an emotion. I like to give people a feeling. When they come away from my scene, I want them to think.
I mix my lipsticks a lot. Depending on how I decide to do my eyes, I'll decide to do my lips. I've never really loved wearing only red or purple, and sometimes just pink isn't enough.
I can't work all day and then go home and hang out with the same people. I don't want everything to revolve around the entertainment business. Yes, that's my career, but it's not my life.
I don't feel the need to define nothin' to nobody, because I'm always changing. Why say that I'm this or that when I might not be tomorrow? I'm gonna follow my own feelings and my own heart.
I'm very happy to be part of a generation where you don't have to say that you're gay. It's just like, 'I'm dating a dude,' or, 'I'm dating a girl,' and I love it. I think it's a great time.
Be true to your heart, and if you're passionate about your dream, work towards it but don't allow your idea of how you think it should manifest prevent what's actually unfolding from happening.
It's very fun to be single, because you know what happens? You find yourself. You understand what it means to love yourself, instead of putting all this energy into give-and-tug in a relationship.
Giving back, doing motivational speeches and stuff like that, that's always made me feel good. If you repeatedly go out there, and you are the change that you want to see, then that's what you are.
I'm totally normal. I love watching movies and hanging out with my friends at my house. I still go to the mall; I love to text and go on my computer. I'm totally normal - sounds kind of boring, right?
Growing up in the industry, sometimes you can feel as if you're not having a normal childhood, but I feel like my parents involved me with a lot of people who made things as 'okay' as they possibly could.
Broadway was life-changing because it pushes you mentally, physically, emotionally - every way that you can be pushed. It makes you feel like there's nothing you can't do. It's like doing your own stunts.
As a child actor, you experience a lot of depression and anxiety... Yes, I went through depression, and it was not comfortable. Yes, I struggle with anxiety and being paranoid, trying to figure out who I am.
I was bullied a lot as a kid in school from kindergarten up to third grade. I know what it feels like to be left out and to want to be different - more so, to want to not be different and want to just fit in.
Be present in the moment and allow yourself to be guided by it by God. Allow Him to guide you and just embrace every situation, good or bad, since you're experiencing it because you're meant to go through it.
I believe your reality is what you make it, what you choose to see, and what you choose to allow yourself to do. There are possibilities all around you - magic all around you - no matter what situation you're in.
Anytime you see Beyonce, Jay Z, Kanye West. Anytime a young black person's doing good, that's motivation for everybody else. Anytime, anytime, it's motivation. Use that fuel to push you forward. That's what I did.
As a kid growing up, the most simple things would make me so, so excited. I remember the first time my dad got a let-out couch; you could sleep in it like a bed and my sister and I just thought that was so magical.
When I was a kid, people people would always say, 'Oh you look like Chilli from TLC.' It wasn't until I did 'Akeelah and the Bee' that people started saying I looked like Angela Bassett, but before then it was Chilli.
I've never really had a first date! Well, I had kind of a first date. I went out with this kid. We went ice skating, but it was not fun. It was so terrible that I told him my curfew was a lot earlier than it really was.
I think I was always joyous, but I don't think I became very aware of positivity and its power until I became older. I always did it naturally, but then I lost it, and it forced me to find it again and appreciate it more.
Don't depend on a guy for your happiness. You have to live your own life and do your own thing. That's when good things come around - when you do your own thing and you're not worried about a man. It will happen in due time.
Something that was instilled in me by my parents at a very young age is that there is no happy life without a life of service. Over the course of my career, I've been fortunate to always encounter others who share that philosophy.
I have a particular pair of boyfriend jeans that I wear with Converse sneakers and, really, any kind of top, from a crop top to a hoodie. I usually go for a loose top or jacket to keep things casual with sort of a streetwear vibe.
It's hard being a Broadway actor going into film where you have to tone everything down. In theater, everything you're taught is to be big and broad and make everyone feel like they are right next to you, even in the last row of seats.
Anything that controls my state of mind I never really want to do because I always want to be under control. That might be part of me being a Virgo. I never want to do something that stops me from being in control of who I am and my actions.
I love princesses. And I think Cinderella is very strong. She's a young woman thinking outside of her environment, outside of her current situation, and she is choosing to believe that all is possible for her. And I think that is so admirable.