Storm Reid

I just feel like, with growing up and having peer pressure and what society wants you to be and what you think you should do, I feel like it's really important to surround yourself around good, understanding, amazing people that actually love you for you.

I would want to go back to the civil rights movement and see how that was. With the information and knowledge I have about it now, I would want to see how I would deal with it.

Looking back on it, when I was eight or nine, of course I did see myself on TV, so in a way, I was privileged.

If you want to be an actress or an astronaut or a doctor or anything in between, I just want to let kids know - and especially kids that look like me know - that you can do it. Even though you're not seen, you can make yourself seen.

Diversity should be forever; it should be a normal thing.

I never saw a little African-American girl saving the world. So to be able to be that for not only myself but girls who look like me is really important and inspiring. Unfortunately, we don't see ourselves saving the world a lot, and if we do see any type of superhero, that person usually has superpowers.

I think my family does a good job of letting me be a regular teenager, which we all need.

I feel like there's this great balance between me being an actress and traveling around and doing all this great stuff but, also, me being the regular teenager, like going to Disneyland with friends and just hanging out.

You're not going to be perfect, but the most important thing is not trying to please anybody. It's loving yourself inside out.

If you're not represented, then sometimes you might not feel hopeful and don't feel like you can do something that other people are doing when you're just as worthy as they are.

I haven't been afraid to speak my mind with anything, and I have always stood up for what I believe in.

I think '12 Years a Slave' really helped me, as a person and as a student, to grow.