Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I censor myself all the time.
I'm healthy, but I'm not thin.
I grew up on a council estate.
It is humbling to be a part of 'Our Loved Boy.'
I come from an educated family, but we were poor.
I don't think I've ever sought revenge, actually.
I would die to get a part in 'Glee' and sing a song.
Sci-fi and horror feel so relevant to me as a woman.
Gender inequality is a global issue that affects everyone.
I'm an actor, after all, and I need to be able to pay my rent.
I go into every audition and I come out and I say, 'I did my best.'
Christine Bottomley and Navin Chowdhry were really fun to work with.
I actually sewed my own wedding dress and I sewed my flower girl dresses.
I don't think revenge is necessarily a good emotion to explore, personally.
In Nigeria, my grandma sold everything - everything - for my mum's education.
My parents are professors. My sister is a Ph.D. student. My other sister has a business.
I feel like I have a very typical west African physique, and that is part of my blackness!
I am the product of two very strong women, my mum and my grandma, who prioritized education.
I feel like I present the way I need to present in order to survive and feel like I can navigate.
I would say my first big break would've been 'Moses Jones.' That was the first time I had a lead.
When you get to a place where a person is so angry that they can do anything - it's a dark dark place.
I plant vegetables and every time I see a flower I'm like, 'I'm going to get a vegetable in a few weeks!'
Truly, you always do your best in an audition. Even if it's terrible, you've done your best in the moment.
The scary thing is that I sometimes think, 'Oh, I've won a Bafta. This could be the top of the precipice.'
The taste of guava is my first memory. I remember somebody picking it from the tree and throwing it down to me.
Talking about racism with white people can make white people very uncomfortable, Black people very uncomfortable.
The beauty with U.K. productions is that, most of the time, you get all of the scripts when you audition for them.
I have truly never been honest outside of the home in regards to racism and inequality and what I've been subject to.
If we want the world to change, we can change it. But in order to change it, the world collectively has to do better.
I've always been quite scared about talking about race. You don't wanna rock the boat because you want to keep working.
I've realized that I am very rarely honest. Outside of my family, I am very rarely honest when I step outside of the door.
I dropped chemistry because there was a cute boy, and I figured out if I dropped chemistry, I would be in his drama class.
I don't just have the patriarchy to compete with. I have systemic racism and white supremacy and inequality to compete with.
I feel middle-class, but my family had to start from scratch. There was no inheritance from a great-aunt. It feels like a slog.
I think the thing I feel most comfortable in and the sexiest in is a headwrap and a t-shirt and jeans or a sweatshirt and jeans.
I've been woken up by things like the MeToo movement. I didn't realize how much of the patriarchy was ingrained within my spirit.
I come from a very matriarchal family and it's important to me that women are protected and saved and educated and loved and valued.
Racism hasn't been an everyday thing in my life, overt racism. There is obviously structural differences, but hate? I've not really had that.
I read a script that's presented to me, and if I love the story and the role, I audition for the part, which is pretty much how I approach it.
I think the saddest thing is how people take on guilt and blame that isn't theirs or doesn't belong to them, and how hard it is to forgive yourself.
I definitely think things are changing... I thought I would never be cast on network TV in America and here I am, cast on network TV - and not skinny!
I feel so British, but people would look at me and see a very African woman - the way I cook is very Nigerian, the way I dress I guess is quite Nigerian.
The problem isn't being a woman, and the problem isn't being Black; the problem is the people out there making it difficult for us - the patriarchy, the racism.
I love myself, I love my skin, and I love my history. I'm grateful for who I am, grateful for the people who made me, my ancestors, and I wouldn't change a thing.
But there are times, as an actor, where you are like, 'Although I am really sad that I did not get this, I am really, really excited to watch it and just be a spectator.'
I Googled every actor from my favorite film 'Annie.' Albert Finney was also from Manchester and he went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - so I auditioned there, too.
If I was to go around as a white woman, a white man, an Asian woman, an Asian man... the world would just respond to you so differently because of your outward form, right?
When I step out of my front door, I have to paint on a bright, big smile to make sure people treat me kindly rather than with suspicion, or assume that I'm going to be aggressive.
I was always treated older than I am when I was a kid, so I had to be like, 'No, I'm sweet,' and this has continued into adulthood because of the way society portrays Black women.
Until 'Lovecraft Country' feels like a show where people go, 'Is that how the world used to be?' we do need to talk about it and make art about it, because sadly, it's not history yet.