Quotes

My life's purpose is to turn my pain into art - to both help the world understand, and myself be understood.

Honestly, acting is the best form of therapy I have found. A good actor will infuse their own personal experiences into every role - but by working through them as your character rather than yourself, you are at first psychologically distanced enough to process them much more freely. Of course, in the end, it is still your own issues that were sorted - this is definitely my favorite part of being an actor, and is really the epitome of catharsis. Plus, in what other field would you be allowed to yell and sob in front of a crowd of people, and be nominated for an Oscar rather than arrested for public emotional indecency?

The only thing that has ever made me happy is to express myself creatively, to push the boundaries and exist outside the confines of my mind.

Why can't people talk about things that actually matter? Here we are, gossiping behind others' backs, while the world is literally on fire.

That's all anyone ever really wants in life - just to understand, and, in turn, be understood.

Growing up is just a process of learning to repress your emotions. That's why acting is so freeing: you really get to reconnect with your inner child, and release everything you've been bottling up.

When I write a story, I want to write something deeply intriguing, something that I have never seen explored on screen before. My advice to emerging screenwriters is to focus on the stories that are yet to be told - give voice to the marginalized, the stigmatized, the unloved; to pressing issues that deserve to be a part of the conversation.