Top 91 Quotes & Sayings by Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell.
Last updated on October 10, 2024.
Oftentimes, a history book in school will talk about the Underground Railroad as if it's one sentence. But thousands of people decided to run, and they single-handedly changed the trajectory of our nation. By running to the North, they put a face to slavery, which recruited a lot of abolitionists.
Never let anyone silence your voice.
Part of an ensemble show is realizing it's a collaboration. It's like a symphony. Everybody takes their turn, but it's really the collective group that matters.
I'm a grandma at heart.
I don't really think about the critics or the commercial success.
I have a complex heritage: my mom is African American, and my dad is Jewish. Both were activists, and they met during the movement in the '70s.
I have so many passions outside of my passion for acting.
There are obstacles and challenges that my dark-skinned sisters face that I will never know. How they are perceived when they walk in a room of strangers is something I will never truly know.
I'm a nature lover.
It's such a transition and it's so empowering to become a mom, but there are also many challenges. Just remind yourself, every minute, every day, to be kind to yourself.
You learn a lot about yourself just by writing it down.
I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn't exist; it's gross and disgusting.
It is a beautiful thing to work on your relationship.
I read so many scripts, and it's not really exciting to just be the girlfriend.
How often do you see young actors playing scholars? Or striving to be intellectuals, you know? It's not that often.
I love music, and I love drumlines. I like school bands a lot. There's nothing wrong with cheerleading, but I'd rather be a band geek. It's a little more interesting.
I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but there are times where a role will require you to live in their world.
After being a mom, we are now in a different chapter in our womanhood, and instead of trying to be our old selves or get our old body back, we should embrace who we are now.
I love to get in the library and just spend days researching characters.
There's still a really divisive residue in our nation that's called racism and prejudice and oppression and sexism.
I just live my life. I go where I feel God is calling me.
Before being a mom, I remember going on a Twitter rant during the whole George Zimmerman trial in Florida about my younger brothers and how one day I'll be the mom of a black son.
Marriage is a work in progress, but it's beautiful.
The Underground Railroad, which was the first integrated civil rights movement, is a part of our history that not a lot of us know about. And it's actually a very empowering side of our history.
Henry Louis Gates is such a wealth of knowledge in himself.
Little Richard played my uncle on 'Full House.' He's fabulous. I remember him being incredibly kind to me. I just remember him being super, super nice.
Vanessa Williams in person is like... the camera cannot capture how gorgeous this woman is! She is just so breathtaking.
I like sitting down and watching games.
My little brothers loved baseball. I'm not as big on that as basketball or football, but I understand the game.
Marian Wright Edelman is a mentor and hero of mine.
I try to give each performance my own soul, to bring a truth to my character. Hopefully, when I bring that much truth to a character, it resonates with somebody, and it sparks some kind of emotion in them.
There are so many people who will try and make you feel like your opinion doesn't matter, and I've learned how important it is to use your voice.
I'm such a huge fan of Gap! My mom used to dress me in Gap overalls that I would wear all the time, and now the idea of bringing my son into that tradition is so ironic and full-circle for me.
I am oftentimes the ear for some people that I know and love. Which I like being. I don't know if I'd like being a marriage counselor, though, because that's too deep for me.
When I was younger, I really struggled with confidence.
I'm a research queen.
My mom bought me an 'Anne of Green Gables' journal. And I just remember thinking it was so cool, and I could write anything in it.
If I have a jump rope and a resistance band, I can work out anywhere. Even without a jump rope. If you do 200 jumping jacks, then drop and do some crunches, and then do some squats, you're good.
The real trendsetters are the ones who rebel. Those are the ones who everyone in fashion eventually follows.
I wouldn't even call myself a former child star. I was a child actor; there's a difference.
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.
I can get a little scattered and want to be everywhere and want to do everything for everyone.
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.
My mom is African-American, Native-American, Irish, and Creole, and my father is of Jewish, Russian, and Polish descent. It's made me who I am. Because of my diverse background, I think I can relate to many different people, different stories, and different communities.
My mom is from New Orleans. And all of my maternal relatives were there during Katrina. We couldn't even find my uncle for four months. We literally didn't know where he was. I had been there just four days before the storm hit.
I come from a family of four brothers, so I like sports.
My best advice would be that you have to be vulnerable with each other. Like, everyone says you have to be honest, you have to communicate; like, yes, of course, but you gotta be willing to be vulnerable.
I always said, 'Whenever I get pregnant, I'm going to embrace all of the body changes that happen.' My focus has not been on any sort of snap-back or anything like that, because your body won't be the same after giving birth, and if anything, that's something to be celebrated, embraced, and owned.
We never get fashion shows in L.A.! Ever!
We got spoiled with 'Friday Night Lights.' Not every show is like that, and on other shows, if you try to bring that same truth or that same approach, the system of television doesn't always allow for that level of collaboration, which is unfortunate because the work would be richer.
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.
That's something I've struggled with my entire life - people underestimating me.
As an artist, you want to stretch. That's the only way you're going to grow. If I stay inside my comfort zone, do roles that I've done before, then I'm never going to get better as an actress.
You go through those awkward, dorky, geeky stages, and growing up in the industry amplifies all that. Fortunately, I have a mother who encouraged me to build my confidence from within and embrace my imperfections.
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.
I walk in a space of gratitude. I'm so grateful to God for blessing me with an amazing family and the opportunity to do what I love.
People look at you, and they think they know you. They think they can place you in a certain category by what they think they know about you. But there's so much more to all of us than what we know and what we see at face value.
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.
Everyone has a past, but I try not to let that affect the way I see them; I want to get to know who they are today.
The AIDS epidemic began before I was born - I've never known a world without it. And yet, despite its omnipresence in our lives, there remains a pervasive silence around AIDS among young people, particularly young women.
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