Quotes from Zawe Ashton

I hate when there's a band that you've loved and you go and see them and it's like only the really new experimental stuff from the current album.

I'm someone who likes to explore the complexities in people.

If you're looking for reps, write letters that are short and professional. Make sure you have a really great reel of yourself. If there are friends you know who are making short films, do them - it's all material for your reel.

When you get to do things you love with every fiber of your being, it's a different experience.

The widespread shame of motherhood is criminal, and it needs to stop. The world can never improve if you disrespect the people that bring life.

Each project you do demands a different diet in a way. Because there's so much tension in 'Betrayal,' so much holding of breath and emotion, I can't get too happy in my food choices or I can't get alert enough.

We live in a capitalist society and if we're talking about the people at the bottom of the food chain, it's women of colour.

If there's one person I looked up to obsessively, it was Will Smith. There wasn't anyone who looked like me on TV in England. 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' was my touchstone.

Tennessee Williams moves my soul.

If I was someone who wanted to do just love-interest roles then I'd be in a difficult position. But thankfully I'm someone who likes to do things that are edgy and different.

The first stage play I ever did was a school play called 'The Wishing Chair.'

I don't think there's a part that I've played or something I've written or directed that hasn't smacked of 'The Wizard Of Oz.' It's the film all roads lead to for me.

My mum took me to see 'The Wizard of Oz' when I was about three and I was blown away.

I don't tend to go into any job thinking about the audience reaction.

What sometimes annoys me about the arts is increasingly that we have to put real people on screen or stage.

I used 'Saved by the Bell: The College Years' as my reference point really for my 'Fresh Meat' experience.

A lobster roll and a few glasses of fizz and I'm happy.

I'm not really sure what defines 'success in the real world' to be honest! It's so objective once you graduate, some people work, some people start families, some go looking for themselves up mountains in Peru.

It's wonderful that newer brands such as Fenty are making clear statements about being for all skin tones.

I do always try and do work that I'm going to be interested in talking about when it's released.

Relief is not a word that ever enters my mind, about anything.

I had a meeting a while back with a big group of women - actors and producers and writers - who are all ethnic minorities and we just aired what we thought was happening and why, and someone said that, as a black or mixed race actress, you feel like you're renting space instead of carving out a career. But I'm just going to get on with it.

As a woman, you do have a sense that if you can do other things, then you should. If you feel, mmm, the roles are getting a little repetitive, and you know you can write, then you should write a different role.

Good writing shouldn't be wrapped in cellophane. It should be open to the elements and full of maggots and it should be left to grow and deepen and fester.