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Humans Have A Light Side And A Dark Side, And It's Up To Us To Choose Which Way We're Going To Live Our Lives. Even If You Start Out On The Dark Side, It Doesn't Mean You Have To Continue Your Journey That Way. You Always Have Time To Turn It Around.

-Taraji P. Henson

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Humans Have A Light

Taraji P. Henson

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Humans Have A Light Side And A Dark Side, And It's Up To Us To Choose Which Way We're Going To Live Our Lives. Even If You Start Out On The Dark Side, It Doesn't Mean You Have To Continue Your Journey That Way. You Always Have Time To Turn It Around.

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More From Taraji P. Henson

I Don't Ever Want To Get Boxed In, Playing The Same Characters, Over And Over Again. That's Why I Prefer Features Over Television.

When I Was Growing Up, No One Ever Said To Me, "you Cannot Do Math Because You're A Girl." But, There Was An Understanding Growing Up That Math And Science Were For Boys. Somebody Lied To Me Because Katherine Johnson Woman Exists, All Of These Women Existed.

It's Up To You To Be Responsible For How You Feel If You're Not Happy. Your Happiness Lies In Your Hands. You Can't Rely On A Man To Make You Happy Or Complete You. That Starts With You.

On My Ipad, And I'm Quite A Fool For This, But I Use Post-it Notes To Cover Up The Camera. It's Just Weird With That Little Eye There And Sometimes It'll Be Green And I Know I Didn't Turn It On. It's Very Spooky.

People Live By Example. I Can't Tell You, "you Can Be Anything," If I Shot My Own Dreams Down Or Was Too Afraid To Go After Them.

I'm Pretty Much The Same. I'm Consistent. There Aren't Two Mes. There Is Only One Me. I Can Only Be Myself, And That's Who I Always Am Whether I'm At Home Or On The Carpet.

I Really Wish Hollywood Would Stop Labeling Movies, Especially Movies With Predominantly Black Casts. Then, It Makes Others Feel Like, "oh, Well, That's Not For Me." At The End Of The Day, Everybody Understands Love, Loss, Pain And Heartbreak. That's Not A Color.

I Would Have To Say Movies Are My Favorite. I Love Doing Tv, Too, But It's Always Rush, Rush, Rush. With A Feature Film, Those Moments And Scenes Get A Chance To Breathe, Because You Don't Have To Accomplish As Much In One Day.

I Don't Harp On The Negative Because If You Do, Then There's No Progression. There's No Forward Movement. You Got To Always Look On The Bright Side Of Things, And We Are In Control. Like, You Have Control Over The Choices You Make.

Forward Movement

It's An Important Moment [win An Emmy]. I Just Feel Like I Want It To Happen Tonight, Either For Myself Or Viola [davis] So We Can Get Past It, So It's Not Big News Anymore. I Mean, It Is 2015. We Have A Black President.

When You Are Portraying A Person That Is Very Real, In My Case, Katherine Johnson Is Still Alive, She Is 98-years Old; There Is A Responsibility To Get It Right. I Guess The Biggest Thing That I Took Away From Katherine Was Her Humility. When You Talk About Superheroes There Are Selfless, They Don't Think About Themselves, They Put Humanity First.

When I Go Home To Visit, They Never Treat Me Like A Celebrity. They Still Treat Me Like Tj. If I Leave Dishes In The Sink, They'll Let Me Know.

Humans Have A Light Side And A Dark Side, And It's Up To Us To Choose Which Way We're Going To Live Our Lives. Even If You Start Out On The Dark Side, It Doesn't Mean You Have To Continue Your Journey That Way. You Always Have Time To Turn It Around.

When I Get That Question, About Diversity, I Don't Go, "yeah, Well You Know They Don't Pay Me." That's Not My Story. I Own Six Properties; Hollywood Has Been Damn Good To Me. Now You Can Ask Me, "have They Paid You What You Deserve?" That's The Question, But You'd Have To Go To The Studios, I Don't Know. I Do The Work!

Katherine Johnson Passion For Math, The Way I Light Up When I Get Asked Questions About Acting Is The Way Her Eyes Danced When She Talked About Math And How She Wanted People To Fall In Love With Numbers The Way That She Did. If I Had A Teacher Like That, I Could Have Been A Rocket Scientist.

Falling In Love

There Is Always Going To Be Love Versus Hate; We Struggle With That As Humans Within Ourselves Every Day; As A Society, We Have To Struggle. So When You Wake Up, You Have To Decide Which Side You're Going To Be On. Hopefully, That Side Is Positive, So You Do The Work And Hope That Your Legacy Will Help Change Things.

I Talked To Katherine Johnson, And I Tried To Make It Weighty By Asking Things Like, "how As A Black Woman Did You Do Your Work In Nasa? They Were Misogynistic, And I'm Sure You Got Called The N-word." She Was Just Like, "well, That Was The Way It Was. I Just Did My Job. I Wanted To Do My Job." She Was Just So Humble.

I Love The Art Of Acting, So I Don't Care If I'm In A Movie With 10 People, Two People, Or By Myself. I Just Really Enjoy It.

Every Human Walks Around With A Certain Kind Of Sadness. They May Not Wear It On Their Sleeves, But It's There If You Look Deep.

I'm Not A Selfish Actor. I Believe That It's A Team Effort. You're Not In A Scene By Yourself.

A Lot Of Times Characters Are Combinations Of People I Come Across In Life. I People-watch A Lot.

I Would Love To Play A Superhero. I Wish I Could Be In 'the Avengers,' Kicking Butt.

At The End Of The Day, I Stand By Who I Am. I'm A Good Person.

The End Of The Day

Improvisation Helps Because You Get What's On The Page And You Make It A Little More Palatable To Your Tongue. And That's The Beauty Of Creating And Being Spontaneous. That's The Way I Love To Work.

I'm Always Interested In Challenging Myself And Pushing, And Seeing How Far I Can Go.

Challenging Myself

I Like To Disappear In My Roles Because I Don't Have An Assistant.

I Feel Like I'm Already A Winner. I've Made So Many Dreams Come True. I'm Here. Whether You Walk Away With A Statue [ Emmy]or Not, You Shouldn't Make It About It That Necessarily. Everyone Who's Here In This House Tonight Is A Winner.

My First Big Heartbreak Proved To Me That What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger.

If I Feel Like I've Reached This Greatness In My Career Than There's No More Room For Growth. I Don't Think I'm Ever Going To Get There. If I Ever Get Complacent, It's Time For Me To Bow Out.

Date A Woman With Children Only If You Are Ready To Man Up, Because It's A Position That Comes With Responsibility.

Love Is The Greatest Gift That God Has Given Us. It's Free.

I Think I'm A Better Comedic Actress Than I Am A Dramatic Actress, But Everybody Believes I'm This Dramatic Actress And I'll Take It.

I Don't Think About Other People. They Are Not Walking In My Shoes. They Are Not Paying My Bills. What Makes Me Happy Is When I Do What I Like To Do, For Me.

You Could Be Laughing One Day About The Same Issues That You're Crying About The Next Day, So That's Life.

I Don't Think A Living Being Should Suffer For The Sake Of Fashion, Period. End Of Story. You Don't Have To Kill An Animal Just Because You Want To Be Hot And Fly. And I Really Stand By That.

In My Mind I'm Like, "no, Katherine Johnson It Was You. It Was Your Mind Alone That Got John Glenn To Orbit The Earth." He Didn't Say, "go Get So In So." He Said, "go Get That Smart Girl." But That Fact That That She Sees The "we" In "i," Blew Me Away.

I Like To Be Home With My Son, Kickin' It And Watching Espn, A Very Normal Life. I Like To Take Him To School Every Day, Watch His Games.

Something Happens To A Woman When She Can't Reproduce. I've Not Had To Walk That Path, But I Can Only Imagine When Your Organs Don't Work And How That Could Make You Feel.

Once You're A Mom, Always A Mom. It's Like Riding A Bike, You Never Forget.

So Much Could Go Wrong On A Date. What If He Turns Out To Be A Jerk? [you Need] A Back-up Plan, Just In Case He Doesn't Work Out, You Can Move On To The Back-up Plan.

I'm Always Talking To The Writers Because I Find It So Fascinating, How They're Able To Go To These Different Levels With The Different Stories, And Have All These Layers To Peel Back.

Katherine Johnson Never Complained, It Just Was What It Was. She Just Said, "i Just Wanted To Go To Work And Do My Numbers." And She Stopped Right There. I Think About That As A Black Woman In Hollywood When I'm Asked About Diversity. I Hate When People Say Diversity Because The First Thing You Jump To Is Black And White. When You Talk About Diversity, You're Talking About Women Being Hired In Front Of And Behind The Camera. You Are Talking About People With Disabilities, The Lgbtq Community...so I Hate When People Think About Diversity.

Black And White

I'm Constantly Proving Myself. I Have To Always Prove Myself. There Are Roles Where I Feel Like, "that Should Have Been A Straight Offer. Why Am I Having To Call My People And Fight For It?"

I'm Always The Cousin That Can't Make It To The Family Functions Because I'm Busy.

With Camera Phones And, You Know, Ipad's And Cameras At Stoplights, It's Like I Just Want To Drive Around With A Bag On My Head Because I Just Feel Like Everyone's Watching.

Sometimes You Have To Say The Words Exactly How They Are On The Page, But Sometimes When You Improv, It Only Helps To Get Across What's On The Page, And I Just Love Working With Directors Who Allow That.

When I Come Home, It's About My Kid, Who Needs To Eat, Needs To Do Homework, And Needs To Get To Basketball. I Don't Have A Lot Of Time To Think About Me.

I Like To Be Scared. I Don't Like Feeling Like "oh, This Is Going To Be A Walk In The Park". If I Ever Get To That Place, I'll Just Stop Acting.

I'm Really Silly. That's The Thing That People Don't Get. I Think I'm A Stronger Comedic Actress Than I Am A Dramatic Actress. I'm Not Really Pigeonholed, But I'm Known For Drama. I Do Comedy So Easily, And People Relate To My Humor. I'll Be Glad Because I Don't Have To Stay Sexy And Young Forever. I Don't Care If I'm Big, As Long As I'm Funny.

I've Been Doing A Lot Of Drama, But I Feel Like Comedy Is My Strength.

A Woman Is Gentle, Soft, Delicate, And A Man's Position Is To Protect Her, Help Her Up Stairs, Make Sure She's In The Car Safely First. Take Good Care Of Your Woman, And The Sky's The Limit!

I Just Hate When Things Get Labeled As "black Movies." I Don't Say, "oh, This Weekend, I Want To See An All-white Movie," Or "i Want To See A Black Movie." I Just Go To A Movie Because I Saw The Previews And I Relate To It. I Want To See It Because The Previews Look Interesting.

I'm Not Twentysomething. I'm Not Trying To Find Myself - I Know Exactly Who I Am And Exactly What I Want. And I Don't Want A Fan. I Want A Man Who Understands Me, Who Challenges Me, Who Calls Me On My Sh-t Instead Of Letting Me Get Away With It Because I'm Supposed To Be A Star. I Want A Best Friend.

What Gives Me The Greatest Satisfaction Is The Number Of People I Can Affect With My Gift, With What I Do. That's The Most Important Thing To Me, More Important Than Any Trophy Or Award.

If I Were To Meet The Most Incredible Man, And He Just So Happened To Not Make As Much Money As I Do, I Wouldn't Hold It Against Him.

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