Quotes by Anna Deavere Smith

About Anna Deavere Smith:

Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist-in-residence at the Center for American Progress. Smith is widely known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in The West Wing (2000–06), and as hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie (2009–15). She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the richest prizes in the American arts, with a remuneration of $300,000.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

To live your life well, and have respect for what came before or after - there's a strong respect for that in African culture.

Anna Deavere Smith

In my own life I'm frequently in predominantly white atmospheres.

Anna Deavere Smith

I love studying how people are. Not just what they're saying, but how they are, what they're doing.

Anna Deavere Smith

For me, first of all, I love people, I love ideas.

Anna Deavere Smith

I would love to have been a documentary filmmaker; I just didn't have the resources to do that.

Anna Deavere Smith

Artists are the people that no matter what, pick up the pen, pick up a paintbrush. They take the time to translate what is happening to create something that resonates deeply with the rest of the people that are caught in the middle of their own real...

Anna Deavere Smith

You know, interesting minds usually do hold more than one idea at a time.

Anna Deavere Smith

Over time, my students have gotten richer and more educated.

Anna Deavere Smith

My work is about giving voice to the unheard, and reiterating the voice of the heard in such a way that you question, or re-examine, what is the truth.

Anna Deavere Smith

I have a lot of optimism about new doctors because I think it's really clear that it's a lot of hard work and no guarantee of a lot of money.

Anna Deavere Smith

My main concern is theater, and theater does not reflect or mirror society. It has been stingy and selfish, and it has to do better.

Anna Deavere Smith

I was a mimic when I was a child. I mimicked the teacher and made friends that way, actually. That was a very subversive activity, because I was a goody-goody who never got in trouble. But if I went off in the corner and mimicked the teacher, people ...

Anna Deavere Smith

Well, the terrible thing right now, and I don't know the statistics, but there's a growing concern in some communities about how rapidly people are sent from school to jail, how quickly they're put into the criminal justice system. And of course the ...

Anna Deavere Smith

Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends.

Anna Deavere Smith

I mean, I think that - as an actress, in particular, I'm basically a fool, and I see the world upside down.

Anna Deavere Smith

You know, real artists, we expose our flaws. We long for intimacy.

Anna Deavere Smith

Each person has a literature inside them.

Anna Deavere Smith

I think as a kid I always liked to listen to people. I loved hearing stories.

Anna Deavere Smith

I am lucky: I have fantastic doctors and a fantastic dentist.

Anna Deavere Smith

I don't talk a lot when I interview. My job is to get out of the way.

Anna Deavere Smith

You hang around actors, or dancers, the minute you sneeze, everybody has a remedy, and we're all on a million different kinds of diets, and different kinds of things that we do for exercise.

Anna Deavere Smith

Author Bio

  • NameAnna Deavere Smith
  • DescriptionAmerican actress, playwright and professor
  • BornSeptember 18, 1950
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionActor; Author
  • AwardsMacArthur Fellows Program; National Humanities Medal