It’s all I know how to do and it’s all I want to do. This is my plan ‘A’ and I don’t have a plan ‘B’. It’s also something I feel I was born to do. A lot of other people have said, “Why the hell would you want to do THAT?” But I don’t feel I ever had a clear-cut choice. It chose me. I was called to do it. No, it’s not easy, it may not be fun all the time, and it’s heartbreaking a lot of the time. But when I get to do what I do, whether it’s between ½-hour and curtain, or “Action!” and “Cut!” to date, those are the most fulfilling joyful moments of my life. It’s like flying.

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to perform; needed to perform. My junior high chorus director made the mistake of giving me a solo in an 8th grade production of “Barnum.” It was the song called “Thank God I’m Old” and I open the show as the Oldest Woman Alive. They wanted to put all these old clothes on me and do sagging boobs. But I just refused to stay in that “old” mode for the whole show. So I went up to the choreographer and said, “Because we know she’s fake, it would be a really good idea if this woman got carried away and started taking off her clothes.” And they said, ok we can do that. And we choreographed a striptease and I became young and fabulous through the rest of the show. And when I got my first round of applause, when I heard that, it was mother’s milk; it’s what’s called being bitten.

The roles that have often found me, have a great deal of emotional and/or physical strength. This can be challenging and a lot of fun, but I try to look for and fight for roles that have multiple and unexpected layers to their personalities. That's what's interesting to me. Just when you think you have someone all figured out, BAM! You know, like life. Strength is great, but I think ultimately, vulnerability is key. It gives us access to our humanity. That's why Sigourney Weaver in ALIENS and Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 are so memorable. And thank goodness for Rob Tapert and RJ Stewart, the Cleopatra creators and Joss Whedon, for seeing who I am and creating a world in which I can exercise the multiple facets of my talent.

The title of my autobiography should read, “What Do We Do With Her?”. To many, I never met the standard and familiar Black American ideal. Nor do I fulfill the standard Latin ideal either. I blur all the lines. “We love her.” they say, “But what is she and where do we put her?” Add a pair of very large eyes, some height, and a layer of confidence that is pretty rare in this business and you have the recipe for someone who can be rather intimidating to some people. My challenge is to put all the physical and cultural traps aside, and have my work prove that I am an asset to any project. When that comes across, it means that I've connected on a human level, and that's a beautiful feeling for all involved. For all these reasons, I'm so grateful for the opportunities that have already come my way.

To date my favorite job was the production of Amphitryon at CSC in 1995. It was the last play that I did. I got to do everything except sing and dance. This was a character I was allowed to take emotionally from A to Z and I got to take the audience with me on this fantastic journey with laughing and crying and doubt and disbelief. I just had the best time with wonderful actors. It was an actors’ “Ten Flags.” It was great.

I’m a really good audience as long as I believe you. I want to forget that I’m watching you. I want to be in it with you. If you can suck me into your world, then you’ve accomplished it all for me. I love that. I love feeling that someone’s reaching out and pulling me in with their commitment. And that’s the essence of the work -- commitment to the truth, whatever the truth for that character or that situation happens to be. Judy Davis is one of my favorites. She’s “balls-to-the-wall.” She GOES FOR IT and I love it. I respect it. There’s technique in there somewhere, but there seems to be this reckless abandon to just get to the moment, the truth, and that’s so exciting.

I love Eve Arden. I was always happy when she showed up. She was just fabulous in Mildred Pearce… Ann Miller and Jane Russell, who were always the smart-talking foils to the beautiful leads. They were never played down and were often just as beautiful as the leads. This dynamic has all but disappeared in modern films, so I’m so happy to see someone like Allison Janney come along. Then there’s Sigourney Weaver, Gina Davis, Julie Newmar, Joanne Worley, and the best big girl of them all Rosalind Russell. She had such wonderful comic timing and expression. All of these women could kill ya or love ya with a look and everything in between. My other favorites are Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Catherine O’Hara, Maureen O’Hara (especially in Hunchback of Notre Dame); Susan Sarandon, Judy Dench, Judy Davis, and  Meryl Streep of course. The great men for me are Charles Laughton, Jimmy Stewart, James Mason, Van Heflin, Peter O’Toole, Ed Harris, and Sydney Poitier.

The perfect movie: All About Eve. There’s nothing wrong with that movie. It’s camp, but it’s not. It’s got all the guilty pleasures of a camp movie, but the writing is so witty and smart and the performances are so brilliant, and that cast: Bette Davis, George Sanders, Thelma Ritter, and Anne Baxter. I don’t know what it is about Anne. Maybe it’s that she’s just having a good time, like “Lookit me! Aren’t I lucky?” And she is fully committed. That whole movie is fun. I also like Godfather II better than Godfather I; The Ten Commandments—there’s Anne Baxter again! And Yul Brynner, the perfect man, gorgeous and brilliant. I also love The Women, Auntie Mame, His Girl Friday, Picnic, and Gypsy—that’s all Ros Russell. And there’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Slender Thread.

I love my fans. They’re so loyal. They scare my husband. There’s this blind loyalty that sci-fi fans have. When I first encountered them, they were a little scary because I had never been exposed to such mass devotion. But working on Hercules, Cleopatra 2525, and Xena opened up an entirely new world for me. So my recognizability went up. At first I thought, Oh it’s only a syndicated genre show. Then I did conventions with the cast. I was shocked at the number of people and they KNEW who I was. Then there was Alias and 17-million people watching and that opened up a whole other group of fans. What’s wonderful about the fans I’ve encountered is their acceptance of who I am and how I do what I do. They get me on a level that industry people usually don’t. There’s no politics, only appreciation.