Allison Janney Quotes

I was sometimes called 'coconut' when I was at school.

Asian males have not been appreciated for what they are. They have always been dissed for what they are not.

I think people really need to think what it's like to have all of society arrayed against you.

People who don't fit the mold are treated differently than those who do.

Like one of any minority, I have experienced prejudice.

All labels are offensive in some way.

The 'X-Men' stories are the stories of outsiders: people who don't fit into normal society and are ostracised; it's a metaphor for gender, race, or sexual orientation.

I have played a lot of roles in my career where I'm the sexual interest. I'm always having to fight that.

Anybody who has been discriminated against, who comes from a group that's been discriminated against, knows what it's like.

I value what I learned from being cast in the margins and what that felt like.

I grew up in musicals, and if you looked like me and sounded like me, you were the character; you were never at the center of the story.

If we can look at another human being and categorise them as 'illegal,' or that chilling American word 'alien,' then what has become of our own humanity?

I was just trying to say that it's unnecessary; you don't need to label yourself. I guess it came off the wrong way, because then everyone labelled me as gay. That's not what I was trying to say. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course!

I once lost a role because I was told I am fair. They were looking for a village woman who is darker.

Kids used to say stuff all the time about how I was different.

Demonization of people on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, or other criteria leads to dehumanization. The notion that some are 'other' is a dangerous and slippery slope.

The majority of the roles I've played are women who have been either impoverished or subjugated in some way. So while I've been fortunate enough to have success because these roles exist, they are stereotypical roles.

People took some part of us and used it to discriminate against us. In our case, it was our ethnicity; it's precisely the same thing for sexual orientation.

I always felt like I had the word "illegal" tattooed on my forehead.

I'm discriminated against all the time.

As to whether Marcos is gay: Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student and, of course, a Zapatista in the mountains.

Wherever I go, people ask: 'What is she? What is she?' There has always been an agenda - they're excluding me or including me in something with that question. It is the first thing agents in Los Angeles ask me. And then I'd hear: 'You're not black enough, you're too black, you're Italian - no, you're Spanish.'

People were making fun of redheads before I came along.

I was very surprised that for a while I could only get cast as straight. It was that way for a few years.

A week before shooting, they told me, You don't have the part, yet. We're still trying to find a handicapped kid who can act. Either that or we break your legs.