Shari Sebbens Quotes

I don't think that because I am Hispanic I should therefore do Hispanic work.

I am an African-American in America. That will never change. But I don't have to be defined by that.

People look at me, and they don't see what they think is a typical Aboriginal. I always thought I'd be the white person in a black play.

Not only do I not want to be stereotyped as this Asian girl who fights - gee, what a wonder - but also I have more to offer than that.

I haven't gotten labeled as a Hispanic actor.

I am not a black artist, I am an artist.

I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.

They just think I'm a white dude. Every once in a while someone thinks I'm Jewish. I get a lot of stuff, but never Latino.

I am not defined as a black writer in the Caribbean, but as soon as I go to America or the U.K., my place becomes black theatre. It's a little ridiculous.

I often hear things like, 'You don't look Latina enough,' and that mentality is so backwards. The fact is, I am Latina, so how are you going to tell me that I don't look Latina?

You can try to justify how Asian you are, but you're never going to make everybody happy.

More than anything, I'm an American kid, and my music reflects that more so than being an Asian-American. I think it's important but also something that can detrimental to your career if celebrated too much.

I've lived 16, 17 years of my life in Asia, and that's most of my life. I was born in Asia - I've lived cultures that are synonymous with Asian culture - but it's still not Asian enough for some people.

Black people have to define who we are, or others do it for us.

I'm not the Asian kid of 'Riverdale;' I'm Reggie, and I just happen to be Chinese.

I'm not the standard Asian girl.

When I started publishing my work, one of the biggest surprises to me was the recurring question about my background and why I wasn't doing more stories about Asian-Americans.

I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American.

Some black filmmakers will say, "I don't want to be considered a black filmmaker, I'm a filmmaker." I don't think that. I'm a black woman filmmaker.

Representation is a crucial location of struggle for any exploited and oppressed people asserting subjectivity and decolonization of the mind.

In Scotland, we're a colony in more ways than one. So when directors come up to work, there's a very particular way they want Scotland to look like and to behave like.

No matter what happens, we couldn't let people say Asian-American actors can't act.

There is this really old school stereotypical notion in Australia that to be Aboriginal you have to be black: anything but white or pale skinned. What 'The Sapphires' does is open up the conversation that I've been having my whole life, the fact that being indigenous isn't about the color of your skin; it's about your connection to your culture.

If I'm in a gathering of filmmakers, I'm first and foremost a British Indian; if I'm in a gathering of British Indians, I'm a woman director. There are so many sides to who I am that I change all the time.

I am an American. Black. Conservative. I don't use African-American, because I'm American, I'm black and I'm conservative. I don't like people trying to label me. African- American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people.