Kimberly Elise Quotes

“Whatever it is that I feel, I express it! I am free with my joy, my laughter, my pleasure, my pain, and I am blessed in that way as an actress that I can access those feelings within myself and not be ashamed to show whatever that is that's appropriate for the character.”

— Kimberly Elise

“A solid sense of self will help a person to lead a full and happy life.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I live a very joyful life, with a lot of laughter and good times.”

— Kimberly Elise

“It's what I tell my daughters: Know that your birthright is to shine your light, and don't let anybody deny you of that right. Take responsibility for your life.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I have the right to shine my light! That's what all women have. Once you own that, you can almost always shine your light.”

— Kimberly Elise

I love seeing my mom and my daughter embrace their natural hair. I'm glad I've embraced it, too.

— Kimberly Elise

“We need happy, productive citizens on our planet for us to survive.”

— Kimberly Elise

“'Beloved.' That's an amazing film and I'm sorry more people didn't see it when it came out.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I always look at things half full and definitely see a change in how things are going as far as black actresses and their opportunities.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I grew up an athlete. Track and field and dance. In track, I actually went to the Junior Olympics. I've always been very athletic.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I like movies that resonate, that give voice to the voiceless.”

— Kimberly Elise

I'm very free with all my emotions, whether it's happy, sad, mad, glad, whatever.

— Kimberly Elise

“Making 'Beloved' was an awesome experience.”

— Kimberly Elise

“Self-esteem is such a challenging issue for young women.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I have a lot of compassion for human beings in life experiences, so I allow myself to feel what these characters are feeling and don't have a problem accepting that.”

— Kimberly Elise

“In my college days, I went wild with my hair. I dyed it every color in the book and, quite naturally, my hair would break off from all the damage. When our hair breaks off, of course, there's only one thing to do - braid it up. I wore braids for a while and would always feel like I just never knew what to do with my hair.”

— Kimberly Elise

“Hollywood is so governed by the ego, and I never wanted to fall into that trap.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I am actually very in touch with all of my emotions, from joy to pain, and I am free with them.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I don't have to be glamorous all the time.”

— Kimberly Elise

I can be dramatic. I can be funny. I can be sexy. I can be sad. I can be glad.

— Kimberly Elise

If Judd Apatow called me, I'd do it without thinking about it. I think he does really fun movies.

— Kimberly Elise

“Thankfully, I was given a strong base by my parents, an understanding of who I was and my strength.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I watched Westerns from the time I was a girl. My dad was a big Western fan. I always loved Clint Eastwood movies and 'Westworld', where the guy gets trapped in a western-themed amusement park. The western motif was fascinating to me.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I'm definitely in a place where I'm looking for different than what I've done in the past, just so I can go to work and do something I haven't done before.”

— Kimberly Elise

It's funny because I never studied, I never took a class. So everything I do is very innate and organic; I don't really have words for it. It is a communion with spirit. I don't get in my own way and allow the character to do what it's going to do.

— Kimberly Elise

Believe it or not, I loved my Jheri curl and thought it was beautiful on me. It actually made my hair grow like crazy. What they didn't tell you back then was that once you get the Jheri curl, there's no way of getting rid of it, so when I was over it, I ended up having to cut off all my hair and start all over again.

— Kimberly Elise

I decided to start embracing and wearing my natural hair, but there was only one problem; I didn't know what to do with it or how to style it. Growing up, all I knew was my relaxed, processed hair, so I had to go through this learning phase.

— Kimberly Elise

“I believe in getting a good education to be able to go out into the world and make a difference.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I think it's always nice to have a film where the underdog comes out on top, doing their best, and surpasses everybody's expectations.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I don't want kids to be distracted by pipe dreams.”

— Kimberly Elise

“I'm happy when people come up and say how they feel about what your character went through, you know, I went through and it's helping me deal with it. I get to see the movie through the audience's eyes and that's really gratifying.”

— Kimberly Elise