Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
My mom knew we were going to call me Kiki by birth. I think she had the nickname before she had my name, and she then found the name that would allow that.
All of us can relate to when something happens in your life and it just completely changes it. Now you have to figure out how you're going to move forward.
I remember growing up and feeling like I didn't really see much of myself represented. Or if I did, there were only a few types of roles that had authority.
It's important to me that I'm more than a pretty face or another person starring in movies. That's great, but there's so much more than can and should be done.
An unlikely source of inspiration? My nieces and nephews. I feel encouraged to keep going because I know that if I keep going, then I can tell them to keep going.
I think the biggest thing is reminding myself how hard I worked for it,' Layne continues. 'It wasn't just handed to me. I trained so hard; I've been so committed.
I want to push the boundaries on the roles that have historically been given to actresses who look like me. There is so much more we can do. There always has been.
If you see black people being portrayed in this one way well then, when you see a black person in real life, you're going to carry some of that way of thinking with you.
Like, no, I can really be queen of the universe. I can be president. I can be, I don't know, an alien from Venus. Like you could just seriously... and that's the fun of acting.
As an actor, my commitment is to be really mindful of how I'm representing Black women. It's the heart of my drive, and my career is to expand how Black women have been represented.
If you're good at your job, you're good at your job regardless of being male, female, whatever. Either you're a good director or you're not, and there are plenty of bad male directors.
That is the thing that brought the Black community through so many of the hardships that we've faced historically. It's the ability to love and laugh and experience joy still in so many ways.
I think especially when depicting young love, so often we see young love where you're just all about this other person, where you're willing to do everything, anything, wherever they need you to be.
That love and loyalty, that groundedness, is always there. I got the type of family that no matter how far I go in Hollywood, they will quickly remind me who the hell I am and where the hell I came from.
When men are put into these types of circumstances like Bigger in 'Native Son,' or Fonny in 'Beale Street,' it destroys relationships, their love, their relationships with their children - it's under attack.
I'm not one of those people that's like, 'I'm about to serve on this Whitney Houston song at like 2 A.M.' No. Karaoke? I'm just like, 'Live your best life.' We're not worried about those notes, we just living.
For young girls to see someone who looks more like her, doing and being her. That's where my ambition and drive comes from, it's being so insanely committed to that. To achieve that, I'm doing everything I can.
I'm just hoping that, as more black artists take control of the narratives that are out there, more opportunities will come around for artists of colour. We want to make the same waves that the white artists do.
The texture my hair, my skin tone; it does work, you don't have to change. But historically we've seen fashion try to change that: straighten your hair, thrown on a super straight silky wig, lighten your skin tone.
I'm learning so much about my style just having access to so many things now. Growing up in Cincinnati, we really didn't have much money so it was really about places where you can go to get the most for the least.
I want to have the kind of career in which I'm accomplished and respected enough that I'm able to open doors for other people, especially those who look like me. That's what happiness and success could look like for me.
To me Kate Spade represents a woman who still has stuff to get done. She's like, 'yeah I'm stylish but I need to be comfortable and able to move.' I'm excited to be a part of a brand that's meaningful to women in that way.
Seeing all of these beautiful brown faces and having that patience for them to live in whatever it was that they were living in; I was just so blown away by the artistry that I recognized in 'Moonlight' - the colors, the music.
When you hear these stories about different cases of police brutality, don't even just make that person just another hashtag, another statistic. That is somebody's father, brother, sister, mother - be more aware of what that means.
I'm very thankful I went to college, because I've seen the difference that it makes for me in the professional world. After graduation, I was building a name for myself in the Chicago theater scene, but there was always this pull to L.A.
Most Sagittariuses start off really reserved. You gotta check people out, see what they're about, and then once we decide you're cool, then that's when we become super fun and really outgoing. But first we gotta make sure everybody's cool.
Growing up, my favorite movie was 'The Lion King.' I used to watch it every day and create these extravagant stories with my Barbies and stuffed animals. My dad says I would say the entire movie out loud, and it's still the one VHS that I have.
It's not lost on me to have the ability to be wearing custom Dior or Gucci, with my box braids or my bantu knots. It's another opportunity to show that Black girls belong in these places and that what I naturally bring as a Black girl belongs as well.
It's amazing to me how quickly the industry will try to put you into a box. It's like, I did 'Beale Street.' And they decided now, all of a sudden, 'Oh, okay. KiKi Layne does those little quiet indie dramas.' I'm like, 'No! That's just where I got started.'
As much as I love to slay a red carpet hitting the ground running with 'Beale Street' and 'Native Son,' representing two such important voices in James Baldwin and Richard Wright let people know that I'm an artist and I really have something to say with this gift.
Will Smith is my favorite actor, because he has so much variety in his career. He's done all types of roles, played in all types of worlds, and to me, that's the fun of acting. That's why I started doing it when I was eight years old, because you get to be whatever you want.
What does it mean when I wear something that makes me look like a Disney Princess? Versus something that's like 'ooh, maybe Kiki Layne can be a sex symbol.' Because these are things that, sometimes dark skin actors with natural hair, we don't get put into those types of conversations.
The thing about tarot - maybe this to me is the difference between it and working with a psychic - to me it's clarifying the things that you already know. I don't feel like any tarot reading I've done or received was particularly surprising. They always speak to things that you kind of felt already.
The history of black people in America, it's so painful. But throughout all that history there has still been the ability of our community to find love and laughter and joy even in these very painful circumstances. That's why I think in particular black love is so powerful, because it's constantly under attack.
When you're a Black actress, the box that we often get put in is so small. And me being a dark-skinned Black actress, the opportunities become so limited in a way that is just wrong. It's not fair. I'm so capable of playing a wide variety of roles. It comes down to whether or not I'm given the opportunity to do it.
I just think the way Regina King carries herself in this industry is something to strive for. Even though she's been in the business as long as she has, she's still just one of the most genuine, realest people I've met so far. And so watching her, I realize that I don't have to change who I am at the core in order to have a career.