Lorraine Toussaint

I keep waiting for someone to cast me as the angel or the witch or the immortal of some kind because so much of the reading I do for my own pleasure is fantasy, horror, or sci-fi.

We all have a dark side. Most of us go through life avoiding direct confrontation with that aspect of ourselves, which I call the shadow self. There's a reason why. It carries a great deal of energy.

I have a big life, a small child, I work, I do a lot of things, so I'm often playing catch-up with what's current.

I was born odd. I was a strange child. My grandmother was always praying over me. She was always rubbing me and praying over me.

I grew up a middle class, colonized child of teachers and librarians and people, women especially, who treasured education.

I grew up under the British system, which I think is horrific for children - very, very strict - a system that did not recognize children as being individuals. You were small animals earning the right to be human.

As a modern woman, there are things I take for granted, and that shows up in the way I sit, the way I walk, the way I think, and what I know to be possible.

I find I often do my best work when I'm not attached to the outcome of the audition.

People's faith, people's beliefs are such a personal thing, and it defies definition. I'm so rarely interested in discussing what I believe or what you believe. I think it's liquid, anyway.