NFL Star Vernon Davis On Leaving Football To Pursue Music and Acting
DIVERSITY IS WHAT LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO BE! Life is all about everyone coming together as one. I think representation in TV and film, and in storytelling in general, is necessary for us to create a more just world and more equal world.
Read full storyMusic Star Jessica Lynn On Seizing Opportunities And Finding Light In The Darkest Times
I’ve achieved success by simply being true to myself. I mean, there are countless other individuals out there, and you’ll reach your destination by following your own unique path. That’s your destiny — the path you’re meant to take. If you’re too focused on imitating someone else or trying to sound exactly like them or, you know, being just like someone else, you’re not staying true to yourself. And I believe that staying true to yourself always leads you on a significant journey. It takes you to where you need to go and where you’re supposed to end up. Even if someone told me to change things and said, “If you do this, I’ll sign you,” or something like that, I always listened to my instincts. I always did what felt authentic. And I think that’s why all these incredible things have happened in my life because people sense that sincerity, and they can’t deny it. I hope my music resonates with anyone out there who’s struggling with this. Just be yourself, and wonderful things will happen.
Read full story‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ Star Tanzyn Crawford On Her Journey From Australia To Hollywood
...It can be a tricky industry. I remember one of my acting teachers telling the class that this career is almost impossible and most of us won’t make it. We all know we’re good actors; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been accepted into a school with a 2% acceptance rate. But in an audition, you never know why they turn you down. I tell myself that it’s not because of my acting skills. It could be because I’m too tall, not ethnic enough, look too similar to someone else they’ve cast, or something else entirely. If you think about it like this, your talent is there, and visually, this is what you can offer. If they don’t like it, it’s not personal. It just doesn’t fit their production. I remind myself that there’s nothing I can do to change who I am, like the color of my skin, for example. I can change my hairstyle or makeup, but that’s about it. If you separate what you have from what others might want, it makes it easier because you know there’s nothing you can do to be something you’re not. I always remember that.
Read full story'The Night Agent' Star Kari Matchett: Why We Need A Kindness Movement
I think I would start the KINDNESS MOVEMENT. I think we could all be a lot kinder to each other. Maybe my slogan would be “PRACTISE KINDNESS — AND KEEP PRACTISING — FOREVER.”
Read full storyShazam! Star Marta Milans On Shazam's Message To Found Families and Foster Families
Well, without spoiling anything, it’s about tapping into the importance of family. That’s why this movie was as successful as it ended up being. It is the one superhero film that honestly tackles found family and the love and the connections between found family, right? I saw how important that is and how much that touched people’s hearts all over the world, from China to India to the Philippines. People that knew me in the Philippines sent me posters of the billboard of the movie and told me how many of the films have been given out to orphanages around the country. We sometimes are unaware of the impact our films make...
Read full story‘Kung Fu’ Star Shannon Dang: "Get Rid Of The Idea That There’s One Correct Answer"
… First, get rid of the idea that there’s one correct answer. It helps take the pressure off many things out of your control. My favorite parable is the following. You’re a strawberry; all you could be is the perfect strawberry. But sometimes you go in there, and they’re looking for an apple, and no matter what you try and do, you’re going to be something other than an apple. So all you can do is be the best strawberry, and then they’ll remember that and be like, you know what, when we need a strawberry, I’ll remember that. Thinking that way takes the pressure off of everything.
Read full storyTobi Bamtefa On His Journey To Starring In Taylor Sheridan's Mayor Of Kingstown
One of the things that I noticed is the situation could happen to anybody. I know people who have been to prison. I’ve met people while I was working on this show who have made some poor choices in life, and they’re mindful of that. They’re aware of that, and they’re often entirely apologetic for these decisions. They’ve paid their dues in that sense and served their punishment without complaint. And they’re just trying to make a life out of what they have. You know there’s a whole new perspective on life when you go to prison.
Read full storyActress Alexis Louder: "Experience Joy As A First Reaction"
If there is a way to get people behind the concept of your first reaction being joy in any circumstance. I know some people, even when good things happen, within five seconds, they’re thinking of where it can go wrong or how to remedy if this wasn’t the right thing, or whatever . But if we force ourselves to experience joy as our first reaction in most things, then when those tough and dark times come and we feel incapable of feeling joy, we’ll have that muscle there that has taught us to feel joy.
Read full storyCassandra Freeman of 'Bel Air': Nurture Women to Strengthen Families
I believe if you nurture and give everything you need to a woman, the family is much stronger. You give a woman all the education and nurturing she needs, and it goes directly back into the kids and household. They figured this out in Rwanda, Africa. When they were trying to rebuild their country, they realized that putting all their energy into women went directly back into the family, which directly changed the community. Men are just built differently. It’s okay. They have to be the ones to go out there into the world. That’s great. But some chemical gets dropped into our head as a woman that profoundly makes us want to take care of the family. So if it were up to me, the world would be very different. If women knew I had this kid, this kid would be taken care of no matter what. Now I can still pursue my dreams. I never have to worry, does this kid eat? Is he safe?
Read full storyMeredith Scott Lynn Of 'Legally Blonde': "A large swath of society had to catch up to Legally Blonde"
I would say that a large swath of society had to catch up to Legally Blonde. More people are finally willing to appreciate and accept what Legally Blonde was teaching all along.
Read full storyHow Kheris Rogers Aims To Help Change Our World
...I want to empower people of color to dream big and achieve their goals. I started my foundation because I want to give back to others in the community by addressing issues that can often hold us back such as racism and colorism. I want to assist in teaching entrepreneurship and financial literacy in my community. I want to highlight issues facing teenagers today to make a better future for tomorrow.
Read full storyTeen Wolf's Melissa Ponzio: "The surest way to get what you want, is to let go of the want"
The surest way to get what you want, is to let go of the want. Every actor has a story of this, especially surrounding auditions. The one you want to land, you usually don’t. The one that you have to move mountains to get done, the one you don’t invest time in, the one that you think you flubbed, the one you say no and they come back and ask again…THAT’s the one you land. Getting rid of the ‘want’, walking into auditions to give, not get…this is the practice.
Read full storyGrammy Nominee Sean Ardoin: "Pick Positive People"
Pick Positive People. I have worked with many people in my life as an artist. I prefer not to be in relationships with negative people, no matter how talented they are. They become toxic to your organization. For example, I would rather have a good guitar player with a great attitude than a great guitar player with a bad attitude. A major artist once put it like this, “I have to be able to do life with you. We are only on stage a few minutes of the week in a touring situation. Ninety minutes in a 24-hour day and not every day are we on stage, but if you make my 22 and a half hours uncomfortable, you’re on the first thing smoking back to your house!”
Read full storyIlfenesh Hadera And Antoinette Crowe-Legacy On What We Can Learn From Godfather Of Harlem
...If you make sure the person on your floor is doing well, fed, happy, and has someone checking on them, and every other person on your floor does that for someone else, then it’s this snowball effect, and everybody is taken care of. It is like, “do what you can for one, what you wish you could do for many” …
Read full storyCarole Baskin Of Tiger King: Saving Big Cats Can Help Save The Planet
I don’t think people will ever save the wild places we need for clean air and clean water and all of nature to be able to survive. They’re not going to do that based on trees or plant life. So it’s got to be some charismatic creature in the woods that we want to protect so badly that we will sacrifice our way of life and our wants and needs. Cats are the best representatives for being able to do that.
Read full storyPulp Fiction Actress Maria de Medeiros On Pulp Fiction's Enduring Appeal
First I want to say I’m really super-proud to have been part of that film. I think it shows how free cinema is-and should be- because if we look at it, Quentin completely disobeyed all the standards of what a film should be! Hollywood’s films have standards which are very recognizable, and Quentin did something completely different. I mean, it’s a challenge, it’s a mind challenge to put the pieces of the puzzle together. And so, I think it’s formidable to see Quentin’s amazing intelligence being displayed in that film, with its completely unusual form. I mean, we in Europe are very used to this proximity between literature and cinema, but Quentin, because he’s so curious and cultured, and he absorbs, and he’s very interested, he’s got a literary quality about his films that is amazing. I think when actors work with Quentin, they don’t change a word because it’s perfect. Basically, I think it’s amazing that he proclaims his freedom as an auteur.
Read full storyDakota Beavers of ‘Prey’ On Being Kind, Forgiving, and Patient with Yourself
I’ve heard it said good and bad water can’t come from the same well. If you pull up a bucket from a well and you have good water, and then the next day you go out there, and you pull up a bucket from the same well, and it’s bad water, that’s not a good well. You need to draw from a well that gives good water over and over again. If you continually speak good things out of your mouth, your ears will hear what your mouth has to say and it’ll encourage you. So I would say speak positivity, encourage yourself, and be kind, forgiving, and patient with yourself.
Read full storyFilmmaker Emma Branderhorst On Raising Awareness About 'Period Poverty'
In my work it’s very important to tell stories from the female perspective, but also to tell stories about subject in our society need more attention. For me the ‘Aha moment’ was when I read an article about period poverty, during my research to make a film about the taboo on period. But when I read the article, I couldn’t really imagine period poverty… I have never heard of it either. So, we changed our research path and dived into period poverty.
Read full storyJohn Papola Of ‘Dad Saves America’: What it really means to “man up”
...The role I hope I can play with what we’re doing with Dad Saves America is to model what it means, as a man, to be worthy of that relationship. I think we are suffering from a supply constraint of worthy men. I think that’s one of the things that is increasing in awareness. Warren Farrell, one of our guests on our show and a contributor, wrote the book the Boy Crisis. Some more things are starting to come out. It’s a factual matter that men in the West, in particular, but broadly speaking, including in places like Japan, are in decline across every measurable metric. Women outnumber men 60–40 in college and college graduations. Women outnumber men in the workforce. Across basically every dimension, health, health outcomes, criminality, all of it, women are doing better than men. Not just relative to each other but relative to each other’s past. So men are in decline, and that’s not good for marriage either. So I think we’ve got a lot of work to do on ourselves. We want to be worthy of being good husbands and good fathers. To me, that’s what it really means to “man up”. Be an adult. Be worth of love and partnership. Find purpose in the responsibilities you can own. As it turns out, all of that is pretty attractive. Playing of Call of Duty ’til 4am on a Tuesday because you’re jobless on the other hand? Not so much. That’s a big part of the message I want to get out there too.
Read full storyKristine Welker Of The Muscular Dystrophy Association On Making Accommodations For People With A Disability
Steve Jobs said the moment you realize the world can be influenced by your actions, everything changes. I would like to inspire a Disability Disruption movement and motivate passionate, hardworking believers to come together to create meaningful change.
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