Shakespeare is definitely my first love.

I do enjoy history. That's one of the things that I love about acting is you get a chance to really dive into history and develop a real personal opinion about it.

I read a lot of W.E.B. Du Bois, who wrote 'The Souls of Black Folk.'

In '42,' it's like the '40s where racial equality had come into the consciousness of a lot of people, whereas in the 1900s it was sort of a new thing.

I'm the old-school, letter-writing romantic. I know it's out of style, and not a lot of women go for that these days, but that's what I go for.

I need to find those projects more often: the ones that really, really speak to me. I do better work in those situations and have a better time.

'The Knick' is set in New York during the 1990s, and it takes place around a hospital called The Knickerbocker. It's about a team of surgeons and nurses who are on the cutting edge of medicine.

I've written a couple of scripts. Actually, a pilot. I'm not sure I'm allowed to say, but it's a comedy about three young men in New York City, one of whom may or may not be a romantic like me.

It's not every day you get to be in a movie about Jackie Robinson, so you want to do it as right as you can.

A lot of people in the movie business don't have a point of reference for me; nobody really knows who I am.