91 Quotes by Jurnee Smollett-Bell

The real trendsetters are the ones who rebel. Those are the ones who everyone in fashion eventually follows.

We never get fashion shows in L.A.! Ever!

There's still a really divisive residue in our nation that's called racism and prejudice and oppression and sexism.

With 'Underground,' we see that the wounds that we all, as a nation, inflicted upon our brothers and sisters during slavery have not been healed.

A lot of the issues today may not affect us personally, but we can't stay in our comfort zone when it comes to protecting our brothers and sisters. We have to get out there and use our voices for them as well.

There's a lot of progress happening in TV. You have amazing shows like 'How to Get Away With Murder.' You have people like Shonda Rhimes, Lee Daniels with 'Empire,' and Jason Katims with 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Parenthood.' You have people behind the scenes writing complex women.

I read so many scripts, and it's not really exciting to just be the girlfriend.

It's not very exciting to go to work to just have your character's identity being defined by her relationship with her male counterparts.

The slave narratives, there is a wealth of research there, because you are hearing stories from the first person account, and that's a whole different thing than reading about it in the history books. You're able to really personalize it.