Top 199 Role Models Quotes

I come from a family of strong women, who have been positive role models for me.

I have fought to protect those benefits that ensure better salaries for teachers across the Nation such as grants to pay off student loans and funding for Teach for America. Still, we must all do more to show our continued appreciation for our Nation’s leading role models.

When I was growing up, there were very few women athletes. I remember watching Olga Corbett, but Peggy Fleming and Janet Lynn were my role models. I never dreamt that I could be at that level. I remember thinking they seemed so elegant and regal and powerful and feminine.

You don’t need role models to be part of a social movement as long as you care about the issues.

I have a small circle of great friends who push me when I need it, tell me when I need to pick up my pace, and who make me want to be better. Sometimes, when I start procrastinating and just need to find that pep in my step, I think of how far I’ve come and how we can all be role models in our every day lives.

I grew up watching cinema in my country that wasn’t telling stories about us, and we had to find a way to connect, and our references, our role models had nothing to do with us. And I’m so glad that it’s changing.

I wasn’t against becoming a dad: I’d had a good childhood, as childhoods go, and as role models, my imperfect parents were as good as or better than most.

At age 12, or even eight or nine, athletes were my role models. So when I would say I wanted to be the best, it was just because I was seeing my idols and wanted to do that. I don’t think it necessarily was the most realistic thought process.

Role models are important and if you see it you can be it.

Our society constantly promotes role models for masculinity, from superheroes to politicians, where the concept of being a ‘man’ is based in their ability to be tough, dominant – and even violent when required.

I can’t deny that there’s a great privilege in having parents who are established in the field that I’m pursuing. I try to appreciate the fact that they’re so great at it. They’ve been such great role models, not only talent-wise but also in how they lead their lives and the reasons why they’ve pursued this.

We’re supposed to be role models for kids.

I like Chelsea, Milan and Inter. I have always followed the two Italian teams because my role models when I was young were Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, and they played for those teams.

Girls Who Code is all about providing role models. You can’t be what you can’t see.

I didn’t have any role models really. My best friend was a dog. My mum and dad saved a dog from the gutter and that dog was my brother before Jesse was born. Sami was his name and he was my role model.

Women of all ages need to be present in the media to instill girls and young women with self-confidence about their futures. And women of my age need healthy role models. Otherwise, how can we build the future dreams we still deserve to have?

I had some great role models along the way. My on-field heroes were the great Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Willie Mays. I wanted to be like them on the field, and I am so damn proud to join them in the Hall of Fame.

All that young people have to look up to are older role models, and I think it’s important to have people like myself show that it’s OK to be who you are when you’re young.

There’s a lot of skaters that I look up to, and I think my biggest skating role models were the two Russian competitors at the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City. They really motivated me to follow my passion in skating, and it really blossomed from there.

Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of role models – Bonnie Raitt, Lita Ford, Jennifer Batten.

Athletes are given a really special platform. It’s our duty, as athletes, to be role models.

It was Jesus who gave me peace when the shark severed my arm. I trust in Jesus whenever I’m going through a hard time. I see all the beautiful things that have come out of my situation. I’m able to share my story with young girls who have few role models, and I can help others cope with what they have been through.

It is annoying that some people only see black women as role models to other black women, rather than as role models to lots of different people.

My dad is a judge, but he started off as an attorney. He is one of my biggest role models; both of my parents are. So, from a young age, I said I wanted to be an attorney.

I was used to being the only woman in everything… I didn’t even think about it. Men were my role models – there’s nothing wrong with that.

When you look at role models, you tend to look at players who have played at the highest level, your Viv Andersons and so on.

There’s room for role models who make mistakes.

I have some role models. In Brazil, they are mostly writers. A writer named Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto is my favorite. Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis is also a very important figure for me.

During my visit to Viet Nam, I have met so many school children who are inspired to be role models for the present and future of their country.

Wrestlers were my role models. And now to think that I am that person to somebody, that brings me joy.

Many women in politics say they had very few, if any, female role models.

I don’t think kids should have role models. They’re disastrous.

I was raised by strong women, and the role models I had in music and cinema were strong, too – liberated and provocative.

I am aware of how many young girls are out there looking for inspiration and for role models and I want to make sure I don’t let them down.

I didn’t have any role models. I really thought I was doomed to this loveless, lonely life. I didn’t know any gay people until I began doing theater.

Not all of us are born with the same role models and grasp things the same way.

At Camfed, we have focused on transforming the vicious cycle of poverty in many rural African communities into a cycle of opportunity. Alumnae of Camfed’s programs go on to become role models and mentors for future generations of young students. We call this the ‘virtuous circle,’ and we know this is a model that works.

If you look at the role models that are out there, the women that tend to be photographed tend to be actresses and models, whereas the men are often in the media because of what they do in terms of business and sport.

We need to have our children look up to real role models.

I have a lot of good role models in my family for things off the court – like my older sister, who’s a lawyer. I don’t like writing papers, but she’s helped me a lot. It’s nice to have an art and business background because they tie together perfectly.

Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent.

We as footballers, like with Sancho, have a lot of power to reach other people, to be role models and to say something. What we say to people outside gives us a big chance to make a statement.

You can only learn from the best players out there, the best people, best idols, role models, whatever you want to call them.

While the kids are little, I want to maintain a job, keep a roof over their heads, and make them proud. I want them to have good female role models in their life.

I grew up at a time in Hawaii where there were trans women around, so there were visible role models for me. At the same time, as a low-income trans girl of color, there were so many things that I didn’t have access to. I didn’t have access to a great education. I didn’t have access to affordable healthcare.

You know, we never grew up with Asian American role models in the entertainment industry, unfortunately. I’d never seen an Asian face singing on TV.

No one came to our neighborhoods with stand-up jobs and showed us there’s a different way. Maybe, had I seen different role models, maybe I’d’ve turned on to that.

Companies and leaders are role models – not just with the business community – but in the broader world.

I like strong female characters. I try to write them as role models for young girls.

There is no shame in black athletes not wanting to be role models, but there should be shame when they don’t behave like one. It’s a free country and people can do whatever they want. But just because we can doesn’t mean we should.

In my family, as in all dysfunctional families, instead of parents who act as strong and nurturing role models for their children, you get these needy people who use their children. I was the kid who tried to take on the marriage.

We need to have women as role models, both inside and outside corporate America’s leading tech companies, leading the path for other women.

Let’s face it: Most of us don’t realize it, but we are failing our kids as reading role models. The best role models are in the home: brothers, fathers, grandfathers; mothers, sisters, grandmothers. Moms and dads, it’s important that your kids see you reading. Not just books – reading the newspaper is good, too.

When you grow up in poverty, suffer from abuse, live in a violent neighborhood, come from a broken home, lack positive role models, are told you’ll never amount to anything, etc, the challenges are enormous.

I looked up to my parents because they were very successful in what they wanted to do. I was lucky; I didn’t have to look far for role models.

Doing science at the highest level is hard for anyone. It’s hard for women, and it’s hard for the men. And we need to have supportive mentors and role models we can look up to.

My role models were childless: Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes.

Maybe I’ve had a sheltered life and career, but I have so many role models to look up to. It’s normal that I would strive to build my own career.

There was such a lack of modern, recognizable role models for a young girl in the 1950s. I mean, ‘Leave It to Beaver’ didn’t speak to me. That’s why I latched on to music.

I think that in the Christian community, we’re lacking a lot of things, and I don’t know that it’s just children’s role models.

Our camps and workshops offer a space where girls of color can learn computer science and coding principles alongside their peers, with mentorship from female role models who have established themselves in tech fields where women, and minority women in particular, tend to be underrepresented.

My parents are good role models because they’ve worked hard and gave me a happy childhood.

I never really had role models or guys in the NBA to show me the ropes or be a friend, mentor to me like that.

I think we have a great opportunity as fighters and athletes to be good role models. I’m by no means perfect, but I think we can try.

There’s lots of singers that I love; I don’t know if I used any of them as role models. Maybe I would have been a better singer when I started if I had.

We are proud to be role models.

The two contemporary writers whom I consider as role models are Janet Malcolm and Michael Lewis.

There are many role models I’ve been around, and kind of the biggest one – there’s a show called ‘Push Girls,’ with all women in wheelchairs, and they’re all really good friends of mine. And one, Angela Rockwood, is still modeling, in a wheelchair. After a car accident.

When you speak to potential black and ethnic coaches who want to go into the game, one aspect that they always speak about are role models. They would like to see representation, more at a higher level. And any part I can play in that I am delighted to do.

I know I’ve had many great mentors and role models and guys to look up to; guys I’ve learned a lot from so I know how to approach being that guy and I’ve been doing it for a long time.

In our generation, the role models were Gandhi and Nehru. We revered them. They were venerated personalities. I read almost every speech of Nehru.

As for my role models… you know, I’m an immigrant, so we didn’t grow up with too much TV. My parents were like, ‘You must read your books.’

Being surrounded by great women and amazing role models and good teammates allowed me to unfold and evolve into the person that I am today.

I come from a city where we really didn’t have too many role models.

Everyone has to try to give back as much as possible because I think in all sports it helps kids to have role models or people to look up to. Someone like Jess Ennis, I know a lot of young girls have started to get into athletics stuff because of her, because of her success.

We didn’t know we might become role models but it’s good that we did because if you’re put in a position like this, you should try to make a difference because a lot of kids today don’t have role models.

My role models were all men. I grew up – I was a big 1980s Laker fan: you know, the years of Worthy, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and, you know, eight-foot-tall men that I could never emulate, and then these big 300-pound football players.

But I think role models also start in the home with your parents.

As athletes, as people, the way we’re looked at in the community, and through kids, we’re looked at as role models. The more we can use that to help build better relationships, to help people get along better, we have to acknowledge that and we have to go and do our part with that.

We need a lot more positive Latin role models in movies and in television. They exist! It’s not fiction.

Most children of the underclass are born out of wedlock; relationships are fleeting and unstable (which ensures that what is born into the underclass stays in the underclass). This is a world in which there are almost no worthwhile male role models, which is a disaster when boys turn to youths.

Jesus is an example. We have other examples, including many of our ancestors as role models who understood the inner meaning of our orientation.

African soccer has grown to the extent that the majority of its players are playing for European teams and that is very good as they are becoming role models for the youngsters on the continent.

We are constantly consuming entertainment; we treat celebrities like role models and royalty. Sometimes destructive behavior gets ignored, or sometimes the pressure breaks them.

Sports is a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and achieving against great odds. Athletes, in times of difficulty, can be important role models.

I didn’t have parents, so I lived in people’s homes… And because I grew up with no parental role models, I learned to become my own friend, eventually my own father and my own mother.

I think Barca and Iniesta were a big part of me growing up, looking at those as role models.

I remove a lot of the pressure from myself by saying I’m not competing with my parents. They are the persons who taught me my ideology. They actively practiced what they preached. They’re the exemplars and the role models. So how does one compete with a mentor?

I always think about the role models I had when I was a little girl. They really made me feel how big I could dream, they made me feel I could do things that I did not think I could do before. And because of them, I went and did what I did and I am where I am now.

Our players are role models; there’s no question about it. Whether they want to be or not. They are. So they’re in the spotlight. So if they do something that’s wrong, that’s in the spotlight, too.

They offered me that film before I did Frida and I said, no, I’m not capable of directing. Then after seeing Julie direct, I was inspired by it. She motivated me to do it, because we don’t have role models as woman for directors.

When I was young, I was looking for people to look up to – role models I could respect.

Little girls and little boys need to have role models to look up to and know that, ‘I’m not the first one. I’m not having to do this for the first time ever. Others have blazed the trail before me, and I can follow in their footsteps and do the same thing.’

I never really thought about being a role model. I started really young, so at 10 years old, I was still very much the person who needed role models. I wasn’t really prepared to be one, but it’s always something that I’ve taken very seriously.

I don’t see myself as a role model; people should look to mothers and sisters as role models.

Without sounding like a right idiot, my mum and my dad are my role models. They devoted everything to my sister and me – and stayed together through everything. It wasn’t because they never argued – of course they did – but they worked through it and made their marriage work.

I don’t think anyone would say that the women on the United States national team are not great role models and ambassadors. Everywhere we go, we connect with fans, sign autographs, and represent our sport and federation with class.

I believe in civil rights, but not in special privilege laws to allow flaunting homosexuals to become role models for children.

That’s one of the things about getting older isn’t it? You suddenly realise that you are what you set out to be. And there are no role models any more.

I was growing up with a single mom who’d be at work when I came home from school. So I’d just turn on the TV. I grew up watching old Clint Eastwood westerns. I adopted him as one of my male role models.

My African-American friends thought it was cool that I was racing. It’s not like we had any role models out there to look up to, so everyone understood I was doing something very different.

Jess Ennis, Chrissie Ohuruogu, Vicky Pendleton and Laura Trott, to name a few, have acted as female role models in England.

It’s critical for girls to see role models like myself that are in technical fields. Looking for ways to come in as speakers or do a career day, or just find a way to connect with students or invite students to their workplaces to shadow them for the day… is critically important.

Early on, after gay liberation, there was an almost Stalinist pressure from gay critics and even gay readers to write about positive role models. We were never supposed to write negative things about gays, or else we were seen as collaborating with the enemy.

‘A New Model’ is saying that women should be confident in who they are and that they can be their own role models.

I’ve found that having role models and mentors who I resonate with is so important – a lot of people have so many questions and may not know where to go to get answers or may not have someone who can relate enough to even answer in the first place.

I believe women need to hear stories and see images that they can identify with, not media-fabricated ideals that even the ‘role models’ themselves can’t live up to.

I work with a host of amazing women who act as role models, who give their spare time freely to encourage these girls to give things a go, to reach out and take a chance and to explain that should they fail, well that’s just a part of life.

Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci are my political role models.

Let’s be very clear: Strong men – men who are truly role models – don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.

When I was really young, the women’s national team wasn’t on a grand media stage, so my role models were male basketball and male American football players.

I think as much as people moan at things like award ceremonies, it gives people role models. It provides real positive reinforcement that you can be who you are and still massively achieve.

We talk sometimes about the impact we hope we’re having, that little girls – and boys – at home are watching us on TV. We can be role models.

Look and image were very important – there was already incredible pressure to look feminine and sexy but I wanted to look individual and strong. I didn’t have any role models except Little Nell from ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’

I think kids need role models. I needed role models when I was growing up and I ran into a lot of different people and that’s what helped me.

Especially in the car ride to and from gym. I find myself spacing out a lot, just visualizing what the Olympics would be like and just having such great role models.

It’s important for moms, but also dads, to recognize that they’re role models when it comes to their kids’ physical health, when it comes to working out, and when it comes to nutrition.

It’s really important to have role models, and a lot of the ancients always talked about this. Seneca talked about this, Aristotle talked about this, and in fact, this was my boxing coach’s philosophy in college, was that you have to have role models.

People who dream of something bigger and better are good role models.

We need role models in our society that the youth can look up to because that space is shrinking.

It is draining when you have a child, and there aren’t many women directors with kids out there as role models.

Some people shun the idea of role models but I think it’s one of the most important things people have in life – role models, to look up to.

Thinking back on it, I just really didn’t have very many role models to look up to when it came to Asian actresses. And in that way, when I would see an Asian onscreen, it would be a secondary-type thing, and that’s kind of how I ended up viewing myself in the world: as secondary.

I write fiction that reflects Islamic logic: fictional worlds where cause and effect are governed by Muslim rationale. However, my characters do not necessarily behave as ‘good’ Muslims; they are not ideals or role models.

Gone are the days when imitation equalled flattery. What happens today, is essentially an entire generation looking outward – not for inspiration, but appropriation – because quite frankly, they’re lost and their role models are increasingly questionable.

To give you an idea what it feels like to be going in with some of the best baseball players of all-time, I mean it is fantastic. I have to say this about them, there are so many of these guys up here that were my role models, people I looked up to, people I wanted to be like.

We’re supposed to be role models.

It’s good for kids to look up to sporting role models.

I’ve been able to work on shows with amazing role models, amazing actors, incredible female filmmakers.

Maybe, instead of putting our standards on other people, we should be very reticent, apprehensive, and deliberate and methodical in choosing whom we choose to elevate in the eyes of the public as role models.

Role models can inspire. Campaigns can motivate. But if we want all girls everywhere to rise up, then we must find them, befriend them and support them.

I want to play positive role models – women who mean something to other women.

Rappers are definitely role models and definitely should get involved. They’re involved in politics whether they like it or not.

When women are provided with training and entrepreneurial opportunities in distribution networks, they become role models in their communities, showing it is possible to challenge limiting norms and stereotypes, and to succeed.

When it comes to role models, as a person of faith, I think we all have one perfect role model. And when I’m asked that question, I point to God and to my faith. And that’s where I tell my kids to look.

I had many teachers that were great, positive role models and taught me to be a good person and stand up and be a good man. A lot of the principals they taught me still affect how I act sometimes and it’s 30 years later.

Kids need activities and role models to stay out of trouble.

I can’t live in a world where there are only, like, four kinds of women. Or where every woman is obsessed with cake. The very least I ask is that we have one female character in the world who likes savory things! I don’t have any role models who like cheese!

With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models.

I didn’t have any role models of artists that were in the same playing field as me – making expensive videos, travelling, marketing and promoting an album.

I worked with Seann William Scott on ‘Role Models,’ and his arms are tatted up. He had to come to set an hour-and-a-half early to get them covered. It’s not worth it. I want that extra hour of sleep.

My role models came in my imagination, from what I’d heard on the radio or on record… Vera Lynn I loved, but I’d only ever heard her on the radio. Gospel singers, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson. So it was in my head that I visualised the emotion but no way to see how people do it.

Growing up, I really didn’t have a lot of role models.

By saying that leaders – male or female – have to look or act a certain way to be respected as role models, we are not only hurting those individuals but also reinforcing rigid benchmarks for the next generation of passionate, aspiring leaders, who are watching.

One-third of all professional baseball players come from Latin America, and Sosa is following role models such as the late Roberto Clemente, a Puerto Rican, from whom he adopted the No. 21. Now he is a model for others.

There are many mediocre entertainers who don’t aspire to much more than fame and glory. It’s very easy to have them as your role models because there aren’t as many greats. Go back, discover the greats, and take it from there.

Kids need role models, whether it’s baseball players, actors or musicians: people to bring a little positive light into their hearts and minds. We need to be a little kinder to those people because it’s not easy being that role model, looked upon as something we are all incapable of being – too perfect.

Golf, to its foundation, is a game of integrity and one that encourages us to give back, kind of be ambassadors, role models, I guess, for kids – whether they like golf or not.

It is vital that women who have fought to get to the top, lend a hand to women coming after them – sharing their stories and acting as role models.

The reason most of the children are having problems in any inner-city neighborhood is because they don’t see enough positive role models in their own environment.

There are relatively few role models for young people. We are in a society that is ruled by men.

When I was playing in Seattle and Orlando, I did a lot of work with the Ronald McDonald House. I’ve always had a special thing for kids, and I know how important it is for kids to have good role models. They push us to that next level.

My parents are the biggest role models in my life, and if I find a woman that I can have a love like they have for one another, I’d be the luckiest man in the world.

I’ve seen the effect some of my shows have had, and so I like characters that can be role models for young girls, roles that can help to change people’s perspective.

Typically, when you look for role models, you want someone who has your interests and came from the same background. Well, look how restricting that is. What people should do is take role models a la carte. If there’s someone whose character you appreciated, you respect that trait.

My role models were always the Pacinos and the Oldmans, the guys who get dirty with their characters, and I arrived in L.A. during the big boom of ‘Dawson’s Creek.’ I was getting cast as the boy next door, or the friend of the jock. I thought, ‘Did I really have to do all that studying?’

Sometimes I feel like the best role models and the people you should look up to most are the people who make mistakes because they show you how to overcome them and walk through that mistake with integrity and grace.

As athletes, it is our responsibility to be role models. But we are not superheroes.

Most of us are not pure self-starters; most people need role models, they need coaches, they need exemplars, they maybe need some discipline or some rewards. We need to be motivated.

Swimmers provide much healthier role models for teenagers than the catwalk.

I think obviously the media need to help promote the game and make it bigger so the younger girls have women role models to look up to and try and aspire to instead of just male footballers.

I’m not paid to be a role model, parents should be role models.

I grew up looking up a lot to ’90s supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. I just thought those women were such cool role models because they had a good body ideal, too.

In the 1980s, there weren’t a lot of role models for gay teenagers.

I wouldn’t say there’s a need for the Spice Girls, but I’d say there’s a place for the Spice Girls. There’s certainly a place for them, but you don’t promote the Spice Girls at the expense of promoting what I think are good role models for girls. You need to create some kind of equality.

Sometimes, for girls, it’s about building confidence and giving them a can-do attitude. It’s seeing role models, people like yourselves, doing those jobs and achieving them, just to say, ‘I can do that.’

My role models have kept on changing.

I didn’t see a lot of role models or women who looked like me on screen when I was growing up. For me, one thing that changed all of that was seeing Keke Palmer in ‘Akeelah and The Bee.’ That film made me realize that I wasn’t an alien.

I didn’t grow up with a lot of role models necessarily when I started out – there weren’t many people who looked like me on TV. Not in England.

I think the hardest thing is that all of us would love to just stick to sports – but if you want us to be role models to kids, then you need to stand for more than just sports.

It is important for children to grow up in a world where there are all kinds of adults and role models around them, for them to know it’s not just parents and people who are parents that care about them, but that there are people who are living other kinds of lives.

Walking out of that curtain and watching the reaction of the crowd, who may cheer for or boo you, is a kick. It’s addictive and helps us put smiles on children’s faces by being huge role models for young girls and boys.

The most important role models should and could be parents and teachers. But that said, once you’re a teenager you’ve probably gotten as much of an example from your parents as you’re going to.

We need role models who are going to break the mold.

Young men, more than anything, need good role models in their lives.

The expectation was I would get married and become a mother and settle down. We didn’t have any role models. We saw teachers and doctors and nurses, but I’m not a teacher, and there was no possibility of being a doctor or a nurse. I had to work and find my own way.

If I look at my era, you looked at the black players who were playing then and there weren’t many – Clyde Best… Certainly as each generation has gone, there have been role models for young black players to aspire to.

Our goal was to win, to win a Super Bowl, but also to win in the right way, to be role models to our community, to represent Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and the National Football League.

Growing up as a South Asian-American, I didn’t have any female role models.

A lot of people say television holds up a mirror to life, and that’s why you see all the drug busts and the killings and the seamier side of life. I personally take the view that it’s not sufficient to portray only negative role models. It’s not enough to say ‘no’ to drugs. What do you say ‘yes’ to?

I guess rock stars are role models for the kids who listen to that music. My role models have all been geologists – you know, the guys who are doing fieldwork until they’re 70.

The American people don’t believe politicians. They don’t believe business leaders or Hollywood celebrities or athletes or other supposed role models. And they certainly don’t believe the news media.

People need role models, and they need to feel that there’s this opportunity to learn. They need to have people that will stick up for them. I want to be a part of that.

I have always loved Reese Witherspoon and Amy Adams as role models – I read all their interviews and agree with the fundamentals of how they manage the limelight and also how they look and carry themselves. A huge part of beauty is how you carry yourself and how you deal with certain situations.

Since 1987, there are now many more of us as at the higher levels with families, so I think, as role models, we are encouraging more women to stay within banking and rise up through the ranks.

I have role models, but I take the attributes of the people that I admire, and I use them to create my best self.

I think that my biggest role models are people that have maybe struggled for a while and then finally gotten to their destination.

I did gymnastics, I wanted to be like Dominique Dawes. But the good think about role models is that you don’t just have them when you are kid. My role models from WWE came when I was older. When I was 27, my role models from WWE became Jacqueline and Beth Phoenix.

People always ask me who my role models are and who I want to be like, and I don’t wanna be like anybody; I wanna be me. I look up to a lot of people, and they have had great influences on me, but I wanna be original and different.

So many black kids aspire to be entertainers or professional athletes because those are the only role models they see that look like them. There are only 300 jobs in the NBA but an endless amount of opportunities as an entrepreneur. With enough hustle, entrepreneurship opens doors to a world of opportunities.

I have been watching how Indian women are forced to do certain things, as the stories of sacrifice and devotion in mythology demand from them. And then there are inspiring stories about women like the Rani of Jhansi that offer women refreshing role models.

My role models were from track-and-field – Florence Griffith Joyner, Gail Devers.

My role models in the business were the older guys on my team when I first got there: Gray Scott, Adrian Smith, Roland Taylor. These were the guys who took me under their wing, and really schooled me in terms of what the business was about.

I copied John Lennon; I copied a bit of David Bowie. It’s such a shame, and I’m so glad that now young girls have so many different role models in all different walks of life.

Especially in the world of fantasy and superheroes, it’s great to have role models that aren’t in skimpy little outfits, in impossible poses. That’s so important for young women.

Growing up, I didn’t have older sisters or many strong female role models to look up to. Being an adult now and looking back, I realize how much I wanted someone like that.

TV is a medium with a wide reach and viewers consider actors role models. Hence, one must realize the responsibility of portraying a certain character.

As an African-American male born with a couple of strikes against you because of your skin color, I think it’s very, very important to have some positive role models around, especially male influences.

I believe that everybody has the right to view his or her own body as a palette. However, I think intellectuals should at least try to be role models.