Quotes from Amandla Stenberg

One of the most challenging things for me to do was to walk away from 'Black Panther.'

I think 'The Hunger Games' has a really powerful message about survival, and sacrificing for the ones you love. It's almost like a warning for us to not lose touch of our humanity. We live in a world in which we watch other's misfortunes for entertainment.

My mom reminds me that all things are possible.

I think there's this great disconnect between youth culture and politics, which is a product of how our capitalist system works.

I'm lucky because the most dangerous thing that could happen to me is that someone will say something mean on a computer screen miles away, and so I feel like if that's all that I'm facing, then why would I not use my platform to talk about things?

I'm a huge fan of Toni Morrison. I just think she's so incredible. And also Nayyirah Waheed, who's a poet.

I know when I used to chemically straighten mine, I did it because I wasn't comfortable with my natural hair. I thought it was too poofy, too kinky. So for me, personally, when I started wearing it natural, it felt like I was blossoming because I was letting go of all the dead hair and all the parts of me that had rejected my natural state.

Me talking about political issues on a social platform was kind of an accident. It's something that's a part of my everyday - it's super central to who I am as a person.

I think something that's really important to me is trying to do what I can from my position of power that comes with having a social media platform to dismantle certain systems that I think are really gross and harmful.

It's so important to create roles and characters and projects that feature black people in a way that's not specifically targeted towards the niche market, which is, like, a black movie is created, and it's produced and pitched so that only black people will watch it.

Everyone experiences different parts of themselves at different times, these different parts of themselves that come out in different settings.

I knew when I was about 14 that I wanted to be a director and that I wanted to go to NYU for film school.

I come from a very musical family. My dad taught me to play guitar. I play violin and drums as well. Violin, I started in elementary school. Drums actually came when I was in a program called 'Rock Star,' which was really awesome. We were doing a song by the Ramones, so I thought, 'Why not play the drums?'

There's so much power in allegory, to form ideas and learn lessons that you can actually take and apply to real life. I think that's why I originally really loved fantasy and reading.

As a fan of the books, I feel fortunate to be part of 'The Hunger Games' family. It was an amazing experience; I am proud of the film and my performance. I want to thank all of my fans and the entire 'Hunger Games' community for their support and loyalty.

Growing up, I was always super into fantasy and 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Game of Thrones' and all of that, but I could never find black characters whom I really liked.

My sexuality's very fluid, and my gender is very fluid.

I don't think gender even exists.

I really love my hair. I really embrace it, and I'm so glad that I made the decision to wear it natural.

People are getting tired of the same material; they want to see black girls as leads in movies. And I happen to be lucky enough to understand that - and be able to grab that opportunity and run with it.

As I started to explore my gender identity, I didn't know how I could claim the title of 'feminist' without subscribing to the gender binary. I thought I had to be a proud woman to be a feminist. Then I came to the realization that I can be proud of women without necessarily identifying as one.

I often find myself in situations where I am the token black person. It can feel like this enormous weight.

I think that, as a black girl, you grow up internalizing all these messages that say you shouldn't accept your hair or your skin tone or your natural features or that you shouldn't have a voice or that you aren't smart.

Within months after reading the novel 'The Hunger Games,' I went from telling my mom that I could see myself as this character to actually getting the role. My mother reminds me that if I could manifest such an important role just because I wanted it so much, all of my dreams are possible.