Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson
Cicely Louise Tyson is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for her performance as Rebecca Morgan in Sounder. For this role she also won the NSFC Best Actress and NBR Best Actress Awards. She starred in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, for which she won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA Award...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth18 December 1924
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
In my early years, there were a number of experiences that made me decide I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. There were a number of issues I wanted to address. And I wanted to use my career as a platform.
The choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years.
My mother was an introvert and quite religious. And we were brought up in the church. And when she learned that I wanted to act, she simply said: 'You cannot live here and do that.'
One lady told me that before she saw 'Sounder' she didn't believe black people could love each other, have deep relationships in the same way as white people.
Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.
Ali... we should have gone to see that movie. Malcolm X was another one
I was in California when this journalist made a blanket statement about the fact that she did not think that black men and women had the kind of love relationship that Rebecca and Nathan had in Sounder.
When I attack a role, be it TV, film or stage, the first thing I say is, I don't want to know anything. If it's good I don't want to hear it; if it's bad I don't want to hear it. The only thing either thing can do is distract me. I like to stay focused
I don't condemn anyone for making their choices. If someone chooses those roles, fine. But not for me. When someone stops me and says, You're the reason I became an actress, that lets me know I made the right decision
I saw that I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. So I made a choice to use my career as a platform to address the issues of the race I was born into.
You never know what motivates you.
Children should have a balanced start in life: a mother and a father. I think that's the only reason to get married.
All I have to do is find someone who has something to say that will enrich my life and they can't get rid of me
We have to support our own films. If we don't, how can we expect others to support them?