Some actors specialize in shooting weapons and punching people. Some have the market on playing buffoons cornered, others specialize in roles that require heavy makeup or outrageous wardrobe. Some trade exclusively in a post-ironic blase attitude.
Problem-solving becomes a very important part of our makeup as we grow into maturity or move up the corporate ladder.
I don't know if I could do this with the same energy, and in the same way - all the costume changes and glitter and hair and makeup - all the time. When I'm in my 50s, I kind of think I'll want to be in a garden.
I really miss wearing costumes and makeup.
I used to make everything myself. I used to do my own hair, make my own costumes, write my own jokes, and write my own songs. There were definitely some days where I had to choose between having tights that didn't have holes in them or having to buy makeup or something I needed for a show.
In the summer months, I like as little makeup as possible - I don't want to be too painted. I might put a little cover-up to smooth everything out.
We met in Cracker. I played a maniac fan who murders a policeman and she did my makeup. I thought anyone interested in me looking like that must have genuinely liked me.
The first thing I'll do if I want to look really crappy is, I don't wear any makeup at all.
I'm very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That's my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it's not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.
Everyday... well, if I'm doing it myself, I have my five-minute makeup routine, which is I do tinted moisturizer, and then I do a quick concealer, and I use our bronzer every day. And then I have to curl my lashes, and then I do our Quickie mascara, and that's it.
For my eyes, my day-to-day just involves curling my lashes to open up my eyes and applying our mascara, The Quickie. If I'm getting my makeup done, I like to get individual lash extensions or a strip of false lashes, depending on how glam I want to get.
As a child, I would watch my mom get ready for work and just sit there for hours watching her transform. However, it wasn't until much later on that I really started to dabble in makeup myself.
At Sarah Lawrence, I realized that everybody was already what they were going to be. The painters were painting, the writers writing, the dancers dancing. And nobody wore any makeup. The art was uppermost.
I wore white kabuki makeup, had blue-black hair. At one point, I shaved an inch and a half around my hairline and continued the white makeup up so it made my head look slightly deformed. I thought it was hilarious.
I work with a stylist called Devon Nuszer and a makeup artist called Aaron Barry, and between those two, I trust them implicitly. I have the things I do over and over again and that I feel safe with, but they inspire me to take risks, and I trust them so much.
I like fats. I think fat is important. I think there is a reason we have it. Obviously it's part of our dietary makeup, so I don't avoid it.
I definitely do have a persona onstage. I definitely am a completely different person, but I'm still having a lot of fun and there's a lot of acting that goes into it. But I haven't been playing many shows when I'm working on acting as much because it's tiring, number one. And number two, it's hard for your mind to makeup what it wants to do.
The hardest pill for me to swallow has been receiving recognition, getting dressed up, going to events. That's the part that has always terrified me. You can see dozens of photos where I have zero hair and makeup and I'm wearing my own jeans and T-shirt, because I was not that interested in that side of it.
I remember taking my makeup off at a Saint Laurent shoot, and I was dragging it across my eye. The makeup artist was like, 'Don't do that to your skin! Don't pull it like that!' And I'm like, 'Really?'
All that prosthetic makeup drains you. By the time it's lunch, you're done.
