Jerrika Hinton

“There's an interesting thing that happens in entertainment when it comes to law enforcement. They love to put a black person as a cop or government official. The 'noble person' is, like, the black cop.”

“I've always been drawn to different artistic outlets, even when I was doing theatre as a kid.”

“If we're going to engage in juicy plot devices, I still want them to be carefully considered.”

“I know myself is an asset to every single room I walk into. I am an asset to every company, every show.”

“I have the kind of brain that works better with a lot of information and I think that's not unusual in the arts.”

“I always carry a pocketknife because I'm a girl from Texas.”

“I usually carry plum blossom incense because I work in different trailers and they have different odors. I like my little morning ritual of making the space mine.”

“In my line of work, arriving on set and meeting a stylist who takes one withering look and either proclaims my hair camera-ready or quickly pulls out a curling iron and eagerly redefines my texture is, regrettably, par for the course.”

“Our society's framework for black women reads as such: strong, indignant and fiercely independent with endless resilience; a myriad of expectations entirely at odds with the vulnerable reality of having natural hair.”

“I recognize my good fortune, that I got to live in Shondaland and work under Shonda Rhimes, and now I get to work under Alan Ball.”

“I've never done just one thing, I've never been able to. I just like to know all pieces of the puzzle because it just makes you a better artist.”

“I'm very emotion-based, I approach character very much from the heart. Building up their heart, their inner world, their imagination, their childhood memories, their dreams.”

“I took some time... to kind of check in with myself, sit in silence, and do all the things that we're supposed to do in order to grow. During that time, I came up with little criteria like 'This is how I will choose jobs. Tier 1 is, if it hits three out of these four, then I'm going to make an automatic yes.'”

“I try to be a responsible consumer, so when it comes to hair stuff, I'll go to a Joann Fabrics and Crafts store, buy a whole roll of elastic cord and make my own hair ties.”

“I like learning languages, I have a huge garden and love gardening, I like life. I like it when life has many components.”

“Learning to be bolder has been a challenge and a good one, I think, utilizing your resources and not being afraid.”

“My time on 'Grey's Anatomy'... it's been so many things, and it has opened up so many other things to me, that, at the end of this time, I can't even look back on it and go, 'But you know, if only this one thing!'”

“I take portraits for people, I like doing that kind of stuff. It's a different way to collaborate and to see other people. I've also written, and I directed when I was in college.”

“I don't think every interest needs to be monetized.”

“Sometimes you don't want to hear noise. I'm well known for sitting in a coffee shop with foam earplugs in because I like to muffle the world a bit.”