A biography for Audra McDonaldhasn’t been written yet.
“I am always so excited to get to know a new audience. My concerts are very personal experiences.”
“I love talking with elderly people.”
“Maybe it's because my uncle and my parents were always very involved with the civil rights movement, so I just grew up and I was raised that you have to speak out and look out for your fellow man, woman, and child.”
“When you become a parent, it blows you open in ways that you never thought possible in terms of a level of love that I know I never thought I could possibly have.”
“Some days, I don't recognise my country, and other days, I see people being vocal and passionate, and I think, 'There's my country.'”
“'Go Back Home' encompasses not only actual geographic location but also, for me, back home in the worlds of music and theatre, and back home in terms of making albums again. There are lots of meanings to that.”
“I find that I'm just drawn to anything that's going to challenge me as an actress. So, anything that's going to help me grow.”
“When I was doing 'A Raisin in the Sun' with Sean Combs, we began in bed, and he would give me 10 kisses and an 11th for luck before the play began.”
“I used to think I needed to have drama at all times, or I wouldn't have the fuel for the performance. Now I know that's not true. That doesn't mean I don't feel it, but I recognize it when I do and put the brakes on. And if the performance isn't what it might have been once, I've learned not to judge myself as much.”
“Anytime I get the chance to sing or work with Michael John, it is such an incredibly fertile and incredibly creative and safe and encouraging environment - and challenging, too, because he is so collaborative!”
“I admire but don't envy people who have children and also have big, wonderful perfect houses. Maybe Martha Stewart could do it; to me those two things aren't compatible, but I know our children will grow up with a feeling that home is a place of comfort.”
“I choose things that challenge me. I was afraid of the camera - that's why I chose to do 'Private Practice.' It's not like I left the theater.”
“I never in a million years thought that my life would unfold the way it has.”
“There's no perfect household anywhere.”
“I think they're an incredible honor. I'm grateful and flattered by them. But I have no control over winning awards - I have no control over any of that.”
“I've been so lucky, with incredible mentors along the way, that now I need to be that for someone else.”
“I used to be really into Bikram yoga.”
“When I first was exposed to 'Porgy and Bess' many, many years ago, I was blown away by it - loved the music, overwhelmed by the production at the Met that I saw, and thought I want to play Bess someday. But I also knew they were stereotypes that were considered racist.”
“The authentic Gullah dialect is actually very clipped, and so it would sound almost Jamaican and be very odd to an American audience's ears. It's not the typical Southern dialect that we're used to.”
“I feel a connection to many songs that I won't sing because I don't think they are right for me! There is something in my gut that immediately responds. There's no science to it.”