With film, there's a consistency to it, but what I like about the TV shows that I've been fortunate to do, like 'Friday Night Lights' and 'True Blood,' is that it feels like you're doing a film.

My siblings are so talented. My sister's a producer, and my brothers and I all write.

When I was younger, I really struggled with confidence.

I wouldn't even call myself a former child star. I was a child actor; there's a difference.

We used to play touch football, where you put the little rag in your pocket. I was good because I was fast. I wasn't the greatest at catching. Sometimes the ball would come so hard and fast that it'd knock the wind out of me.

Never let anyone silence your voice.

I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn't exist; it's gross and disgusting.

I try to give each performance my own soul, to bring a truth to my character. Hopefully, when I bring that much truth to a character, it resonates with somebody, and it sparks some kind of emotion in them.

The Underground Railroad, which was the first integrated civil rights movement, is a part of our history that not a lot of us know about. And it's actually a very empowering side of our history.

As women, I think we give so much of ourselves.

I'm very opinionated and passionate when it comes to my characters.

My mom is from New Orleans. And all of my maternal relatives were there during Katrina. We couldn't even find my uncle for four months. We literally didn't know where he was. I had been there just four days before the storm hit.

There's something about driving through Texas, and it's hot, your skin is sticking to you. The environment affects your attitude and your swagger.

There are so many people who will try and make you feel like your opinion doesn't matter, and I've learned how important it is to use your voice.

With 'Underground,' we see that the wounds that we all, as a nation, inflicted upon our brothers and sisters during slavery have not been healed.

I have respect for therapists in general, because they hear so many stories. It's a lot to hold and take in.

I love to get in the library and just spend days researching characters.

People look at you, and they think they know you. They think they can place you in a certain category by what they think they know about you. But there's so much more to all of us than what we know and what we see at face value.

Marriage is a work in progress, but it's beautiful.

Everyone has a past, but I try not to let that affect the way I see them; I want to get to know who they are today.

I have a complex heritage: my mom is African American, and my dad is Jewish. Both were activists, and they met during the movement in the '70s.

My mom is African-American, Native-American, Irish, and Creole, and my father is of Jewish, Russian, and Polish descent. It's made me who I am. Because of my diverse background, I think I can relate to many different people, different stories, and different communities.

Part of an ensemble show is realizing it's a collaboration. It's like a symphony. Everybody takes their turn, but it's really the collective group that matters.

Little Richard played my uncle on 'Full House.' He's fabulous. I remember him being incredibly kind to me. I just remember him being super, super nice.