Top 33 Teyonah Parris Quotes

For me, it’s always about the work and the stories I’m telling and the slices of life I feel should be illuminated.

It’s no coincidence that the cities with the highest rates of violence also have the highest rates of unemployment. There are not many opportunities. We have to address that, starting from the government down and the grassroots up.

It feels good to be a role model for little girls who don’t often see natural hair on the red carpet.

I think people need to watch ‘Chi-Raq’ because you need to know what’s happening in your back yard.

I try to be very particular about the roles I choose and what they say and put into the universe. I try to do my part.

I, for myself, have wanted to get more into producing because I want to be a part of the conversation and be one of the voices in the story we’re trying to tell.

You have to be resilient to be a black person in America. The thing about being resilient is being able to fall apart and pick yourself up again. And putting yourself back together, that improves on what you were before.

I’ve had the struggling actor experience. At one point in New York, I was holding four jobs, including bottle service girl, while I was trying to break into acting.

Whatever it is you do, study it, learn the ins and outs of it, and really work on building your craft.

It’s important, as a young person of color, to see yourself reflected in the media.

The person that inspired me throughout most of my childhood was Angela Bassett.

I love period dramas.

When you get older, you start to doubt, and you put limitations on yourself. But little Teyonah had no fear.

An actor hears ‘no’ more often than the average person. A black human and a black woman on top of that? That’s a lot of no’s.

When I choose a role, what I’m looking for is the ability is to tell our stories. Me being a black woman, that’s just a given. It’s going to be a part of any role I do, making sure I tell it truthfully and nuanced and in a way that many people can relate to.

It’s so important… to have a variety of representation on television.

I think, no matter who you are, at some point in your life you’ve probably said, ‘OK, well, who am I, and where do I fit in?’

It only takes one person to mobilize a community and inspire change. Even if you don’t feel like you have it in you, it’s in you. You have to believe in yourself. People will see your vision and passion and follow you.

Every time I get a role, or the opportunity to explore a role, I look at it, and I think, ‘What is the story we’re trying to tell here?’

I went to middle school and high school, and my drama teacher, Ms. Cooper, basically nurtured me. It was always a part of my life, and my parents allowed it to be.

You look at ‘Survivor’s Remorse.’ Or ‘Blackish.’ Or Issa Rae’s brilliant, funny ‘Insecure,’ which started out on YouTube but is now on HBO. And you see multifaceted representations of the African-American experience. It’s insanely exciting.

I think social media is a slippery slope because while you’re projecting something out to people, they also project back onto you what they want to see.

When you just come into a show that’s already established, you feel that they’re family, and they have a way of doing things and running things.

As black women, we’re miles behind our white counterparts in being offered the space to create and craft female characters in major blockbuster films.

When I’m filming, I keep my hair in cornrows so that they can fit a wig on top of my hair.

I got my first relaxer when I was nine years old. This was in the ’90s, and I convinced my mom to let me perm my hair so I could wear a French roll with the crimps in the front.

I went to this arts high school in Greenville, S.C. In speech class, the teacher, a white man, would say, ‘You’re talking ghetto. Don’t talk ghetto.’ I’m not only offended, but I’m confused because while there’s nothing wrong with people who come from the projects or the ghetto, that’s actually not my experience.

I don’t even watch basketball. I can’t even pretend.

I always want to tell the truth. It doesn’t have to be a pretty truth, and it doesn’t have to be a life-changing and life-threatening truth like ‘Chi-Raq.’ But I want to tell someone’s truth in an effort to inspire people to see themselves reflected on the screen.

I love my ‘Survivor’s Remorse’ cast. They are so funny and crazy, like a big dysfunctional family. It’s so much fun, and I love the issues that we talk about on that show. We deal with nuanced and controversial issues, and we do it in a way that’s funny. It’s comedy.

My dad, bless his heart, always told me I was beautiful, so I was never self-conscious in that way. But when you look at the images on TV, you think you need to look like that in order to be sexy.

Working with Spike Lee was a dream of mine. It was amazing to be able to collaborate with such a visionary.

I really feel like the stars have aligned many ways, many times for me. I have been blessed to play some awesome roles and nuanced and meaningful characters.