Jurnee Smollett

Jurnee Smollett: (On one of her most famous childhood roles) People still come up to me about Full House. The Olsen twins were really cool. But I don't want anyone else's fame. I never think, "I wish I was so-and-so." I like me. I like my life.

Jurnee Smollett: My mom is from New Orleans. And all of my maternal relatives were there during Katrina. We couldn't even find my uncle for four months. We literally didn't know where he was. I had been there just four days before the storm hit.

Jurnee Smollett: was fortunate enough to go to South Africa with Artists for a New South Africa. That trip changed my life, man. The stuff you see… and the stories you hear firsthand… I mean, that country has such beauty, and yet such pain. The spirit of the people is amazing, but there's still a lot of work that's just got to be done. It's so easy to take the things we have for granted. Little things like electricity, running water and a roof over our heads. They have to work so hard to get things we feel entitled to. There's hunger for an education over there. Being there made me realize what's important in life, and made me reevaluate a lot of things in my own life.

Jurnee Smollett:(About "The Great Debaters") Yeah, once I saw the film, I was really blown away by how impactful it was even on me, and I'd been there for the entire process. But while you're doing it, you're so focused on being present that you have to forget all the external stuff in order to make it honest, to make it natural.

Jurnee Smollett:(About fighting AIDS) It's frustrating because when infection rates rise we have budget cuts. This is proof that the world is ignoring us. When my generation was born, this disease existed. So I definitely feel like it's up to us to take the baton and keep up the fight

Jurnee Smollett: That's what is so wonderful about my mom and why I appreciate and respect her so much. She was blunt, she was honest, and she used the lingo that my friends used. I've never been babied. She told me what the world was like so I wouldn't grow up and be shocked to find out the truth

Jurnee Smollett: At the Ryan White Conference I spoke to a girl from Nashville who contracted HIV two years ago from her boyfriend. She said in her hometown people see AIDS as a problem just for white, gay men or IV drug users. Though her mother took her to the doctor to get birth control pills, AIDS was not the issue, just pregnancy. She wasn't using protection because she didn't think that in this day and age it could happen to her.That blew my mind! Do you know how many kids she represents?! I mean, even just a year ago, I had a friend who got infected. She was twenty-three and a virgin. We are all living with this disease. That's why we all need to do something about it. We need to break down these stigmas!

Jurnee Smollett: I use my acting talent as a weapon for the greater good. I think of myself as a server of the people. Mom taught me that there is a bigger purpose

Jurnee Smollett:(About meeting Henrietta Smalls, her character in "The Great Debaters") here were so many things that she said to me, like she really, really wanted me to get the fact that how important education was for them. Education, she said, was the death of mental slavery. That, to me, was such a powerful statement. Mental enslavement, meaning we could be emancipated for a while, but if we are still buying into the propaganda that we're fed on a daily basis and we don't ask why - you know, my mom always says you got to ask why. Got to ask why. What are you doing this? So for me, it's about that. It's about asking why. It's about putting yourself in a position where you're forced to grow. You know, where it's like out of your comfort zone. I mean, through this film, we all grew as actors. We grew as human beings because this wasn't something that was in our comfort zone, you know.

Jurnee Smollett: There is crying and pain going on. There's a whole population screaming out and no one is listening. It's neglect.