Danai Gurira

“My artistic spirit is not nurtured by blogospheres.”

“I've always been extremely physically active.”

“You Americans, you have no idea how much your stuff infiltrates the rest of the world!”

“I often feel like a nutty professor, like I'm going to try this experiment and see if it works. My hypothesis is, people in the West can absorb African women stories without any shaken or stirred mixer. It can come directly from the source.”

“I don't care about the quality of the film as a whole, but I loved 'Salt.' I loved it!”

“I got an M.F.A. in acting from NYU, and part of our training is to learn how to use swords in combat situations in a performance and Shakespeare plays where you have to fight.”

“I always used to say hybrids would rule the world - people who have an understanding of many cultures and can relate to them with ease. And then along came Obama.”

“I never consider myself a minority. I see people who look like me in Barbados, in Trinidad, in Haiti, in London, and in Brooklyn. So I don't know what the heck anyone means when they call me a 'minority.' There's something about that word to me. It just minimalizes people.”

“I love writing for other actors, women of African descent and people who are generally underrepresented.”

“I create fictional narratives, but it's based on literal people.”

“I went to grad school because I wanted to learn the rules so I would know how to break them. Breaking the rules is saying, 'I'm breaking in, OK? I'm breaking in your very comfortable little house over here, and I'm going to take a room.'”

“I'm a storyteller. I'm always willing to serve the story, a story I believe in, in whatever way is necessary. If I need to write the story I believe in, I will write it. If I've been offered to act in a story that I truly believe in, I will happily do that, but I'm a storyteller. That's something I'm so thankful for.”

“Back in the day, I used to read 'Archie,' but I haven't been a comic book aficionado.”

“I hate horror movies! I avoid them like the plague. I don't like getting scared.”

“Zimbabweans are so smart and witty and able to weave together tons of situations and experiences into terminologies that are just utterly original.”

“I want women and girls of African descent and of color to be able to not have to keep searching for stories about themselves.”

“We moved to Zimbabwe when I was five, some years after Zimbabwe had gained independence.”

“I want to see women of African descent shine.”

“I'm all about getting the training. Don't roll out of bed and say, 'I can do this.'”

“If my work is on the stage, you can be rested assured I'm going to make use of it as a platform for activism as much as possible.”