"The reason why I chose not to do the Aaliyah movie had nothing to do with the haters or people telling me that I couldn't do it, I wasn't talented enough, or I wasn't black enough. It had absolutely nothing to do with that. The main reasons were that the production value wasn't there, there were complications with the music rights, and I just felt like it wasn't being handled delicately considering the situation."

“I was a huge fan of That's So Raven as a kid. I don’t know—maybe I was destined to be on Disney Channel. But I did love me some Disney Channel!”

“Growing up, I was a sports girl. My mom is 6'4, so we always thought that the WMBA was going to be my path. But then I decided that I wanted to pursue acting. I grew up around the California Shakespeare Theater, and that's where I realized that my true love was in the performing arts.”

“Some would say the mullet didn't work out. But to me, they were talking about it, so I'd say it worked out. I think we can't allow ourselves to get caught up in other people's opinions of ourselves because then we're never going to progress, we're never going to go forward. So we've got to be real. We've got to do what we want to do even if people don't like it. The greatest of the greats wouldn't be the greatest of the greats if they didn't try stuff, you know what I mean? So, no, I don't regret anything. I'm very happy with all of the choices we have made.”

“I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating. But I just want to say there is hope in the young people out there - I know that our TV show doesn't always feel like a great example of that - but there is hope in our young people and I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets, 'I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”

“My main reason for being a vegetarian is that I’m an animal lover — definitely NOT because I love vegetables. I thought it was awful, all those animals getting packed up in there waiting to be killed. I couldn’t believe that’s how I’d been getting my meat! I had this crazy dream about raining hamburgers. You know that book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? It was like that, with giant food falling out of the sky. And I still remember the dream so clearly.”

“I think it’s a responsibility, but like Tupac Shakur, I’m a real model. Which means: I’m not pretending to be something that I’m not, because like he said, people are going to be disappointed when they find out who you are, because it’s not going to be what you presented to the world. So just keep it real. I’m a good kid and that’s all.”