VanessaBellCalloway

I think because a lot of people are still stuck a few decades ago, and it's time to realize the world has changed, people have changed. And racism shouldn't be as prevalent - it's about representing the people that are out in the world. But I think so many people are stuck in the past, they think that because of the dollars in the film industry, they think that a lot of minorities aren't going to go for certain products, and they don't trust that, so they're still going for the old formula of "white is right, and everything else is sub-standard." It has gotten a little better. I think we see it more on television now than we do on film. But I still see it as a long way to go.

Oh, right now?

Hmmmm.

I'm thinkin' about that!

You know who I'd really like to work with? Ed Norton. I really like him. He's a really good actor. I'd like to work with him.

Well, one of the big problems is that Hollywood thinks that there are only 5 black actresses that can act - there's whomever that hot person is that moment who's black and can act. And then you see tons of different white actresses in many different roles, but you only see a few black actresses, meaning that if you're the person of the moment, you're the one chosen. Whereas white actresses have more movies for them to be in. They have more shots to be in movies. But Hollywood chooses the 3 (or 4 or 5 black actresses) they think can act - they only choose the few they feel are "hot "at the time. So if black people don't make black movies, then we don't get a chance to act in movies. Because there's only a few "spots" available, so to speak.

The day that we shot the wedding and all that, because I was in a dress and all that hair, they had to bring me what they called a "Leaning Board" - where you can lean on it - and so the dresses were so tight in the 30's and 40's that the actresses back then leaned on the boards, instead of sitting down! So my dress was too tight, and I remember thinking it was just terrible, I thought. But my dress looked good and stayed nice, cuz I never sat down!

And when I went to the premiere - when they shoot movies, they shoot out of sequence. So when I did my sequence walk through with all the dancers, in my head, I saw this wonderful moment onscreen that was all about me - so when I saw it in the movie theater and saw the actor singing "She's your queen!" and I'm walking through and everybody started busting out laughing - I didn't know that he was going to be singing when I was walking down the aisle, so everybody was cracking up! I was mortified. I thought "Oh my god, they're laughing at him, and he's blowing my moment!"

That was really funny.

SHAMELESS is so much fun, because you get to do things that you would never, ever do or say in real life.

You have an excuse to be shameless without any consequences, haha!

Shanola Hampton (who plays my daughter) and I are very close.