A Quote by Cress Williams

I realized that being that No. 1 on the call sheet sets the tone. That knowledge, it's important to me that everyone - not just actors, not just myself, but everyone - have a workplace that they enjoy, where they feel respected, that they have creative input, and that they feel is a place that they're excited to go to work.
I don't feel pressure because what everyone expects of me is what I expect of myself anyway. Everyone expects me to win this fight, I expect myself to win this fight. It's not any more pressure than what I put on myself. I don't suffer nerves, I don't feel pressure, I just go out and do what I need to do.
James DeMonaco is one of my favorite directors I’ve ever worked with. I think he shoots really well and all that, but the work environment he creates – he makes everyone feel respected, he makes everyone feel appreciated, and he’s a true collaborator.
It's the Met Gala - everyone is huge. It feels very hierarchical, and I get really nervous in hierarchical spaces because I feel like everyone deserves to feel just as special as everyone else, but that's just not the way it is in this business.
I like happy sets. Happy sets are good, and I think people feel comfortable on them. When fear arrives in any context it's just boring and it closes people down. If people feel inadequate or if they feel bullied... It might work for some people but I think, as a rule, it just takes any joy out of the creative process.
I came from the theater. It takes a team. We need everyone. It's not just No. 1 on the call sheet. I love to have kindness and respect and a place for where we can create.
Music is very helpful, not just for the actors, but the whole crew and myself. It gives you the tone of the scene. Everyone is focused on the tone of the scene when we are shooting, and we are having an emotional reaction to the music immediately.
When I do a festival, I want everyone to have a party, I think it is kind of similar to a club where everyone is there to have a good time and celebrate not being at work or just being able to have fun. I love people dancing to my music as well; if I can make them dance I feel happy.
I've never been trained as an actress, so it's all instinct. I just let myself go into this kind of a free fall. Sometimes I feel scared, or out of my element - like everyone else knows what they're doing but me. I don't know . . . Maybe I function well with fear or I like to be faced with a challenge . . . I think I'm just a work in progress.
The concern about what's too violent or what's too scary is something that I just completely don't let enter into my creative process. I feel like, if I spend a lot of time trying to worry about whether it will appeal to everyone and who will like it and who won't, and I try to please everyone, I'll just spread myself too thin and lose my mind.
I enjoy just showing people other sides of me, especially everyone always sees me in my helmet and ski suit. It's nice to just show everyone me, just me in my everyday clothes or just me in high heels or just me not in my ski gear, basically.
You have to get through periods of being blocked. Everybody has them. For me, they have everything to do with self-doubt. It's never a matter of laziness or inability. It's just a matter of believing that what I'm doing is worthwhile, that it matters.I just make myself work. I just make myself go to work, whether I feel like it or not.
I think it's really important, especially with the work space, to create a place that makes people feel creative, where they feel safe, and they feel like they're instantly connected.
I hope one day it's not revolutionary just to be yourself, but I think that the work that's being done around identity and personhood is so important.I feel inspired by people around me who are part of this movement as well: Hari Nef and Rowan Blanchard and Willow Smith and these kids who are really not going to listen to anyone. "I'm just going to say whatever I feel. I'm going to be myself. And if you don't like it, then, you can go screw yourself."
I met with my spiritual teacher and went to a therapist. I realized that if I came from a positive place, not only will everyone feel better and I will feel happier, but the company will work better.
As artists and creative people it's such an important time to be expressive and be empowering and supportive of people. It is a time where I feel like everyone has to be together and say, "Hey, we're all going to be okay. We just need to work together."
My first TV experience, it was so bad. I just didn't feel a creative atmosphere. I felt like we were just pawns to deliver lines. Everyone was telling me that's just television. I said, 'OK, I'm going to stay far away from television!
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