Self-doubt is a constant companion for a chubby, gay, black boy born in the South. — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
I talk about being a 'what' to people. Like, being gay in mainstream society is a different kind of 'what' than being… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
Shows like 'Empire'... one of the most profound powerful things is that there's a gay male character who is loved. That character… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
That is just the reality of being a marginalized person in this country: you have to deal with the psychological impact of… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
For whatever reason, gay characters, or characters that deal with sexuality issues, who are black, in 'black films'... are typically not dealt… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
Part of my struggle with being gay was that a lot of my homophobia was internalized because of the cues that I… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
White people don't have that problem, they get to go through life never having to fit into a box, and it's really… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
As much as I'd love to believe that we are 'post-racial' - an idea that really gained traction after the election of… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
I don't doubt that straight white men have identity issues and identity complexes and struggle with defining themselves. — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
I thought I was depressed because I wasn't a writer/director. I moved into a space where I'm a writer/director, my movie is a hit… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
I saw 'Beauty and the Beast' at eight years old in theatres and spent hours trying to recreate the majestic imagery of that story… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
I'm very interested in clans and the way people group together, and there's a lot of group shots. There's a lot of people in… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
One of the things that I love about Robert Altman's movies is that, really, a Robert Altman movie is just a bunch of short… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
I am more than a black guy. I am a person, I'm storyteller, I'm a son, I'm a friend, so I am all those… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
There are a plethora of ways of being black, just like there's many ways to being white. — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
The way Hollywood and TV is, black people don't have any choice but to see ourselves in white-dominated television shows and stories and movies. — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
Everybody else was quoting 2Pac, and I was running around with Green Day in my Walkman. Racially speaking, I wasn't cool or appropriate for… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
Self-doubt is a constant companion for a chubby, gay, black boy born in the South. — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
In the press, there's this desire for the black audience to be this monolithic thing that always responds to the same stars. That's a… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
It is a fine line between making fun of the right thing and making fun of the wrong thing. And the language oftentimes is… — Justin Simien Copy Share Image
