I've always found men to be incredible allies, particularly with their perspective.
— Lela Loren
One of the things I love about the character development in 'Power' is Courtney A. Kemp's subversive use of stereotype.
Usually we have pick-up shots to film after all the main work is done; sometimes we even do them after our wrap party. Just like when you're packing up and moving, it's the little things that end up taking the most time, and there is no romance in the clean up.
When we are filming, it often feels like we're flying blind. As an actor, you have no idea if your choices are right or if they work. Some scenes feel like a complete Hail Mary. Imagine you're blindfolded and cook a massive Thanksgiving feast with only new recipes - without getting to taste any of them along the way.
Enrique Muricano isn't afraid to try something new, to take risks, to possibly fail, and in turn, set himself apart.
While I resonate deeply with my maternal cultural heritage, I identify as American.
Sometimes you have to let your life fall apart and let it come back together on its own and learn to care for yourself in a different way.
Shane Johnson and I coincidently went to Whitman College. This is notable because Whitman is teeny-tiny, with only 1,200 students. He graduated the spring before I started, so we didn't know each other.
I'm one of those people who doesn't understand how it was that I went to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning or what I was doing. Like, I looked at 'Bon Appetit' magazine for three hours for things I'm never going to cook. Or I'm just on Pinterest for no logical reason.
You can accomplish so many things with a negative outlook and low self-esteem if you just do it over and over and over again.
To get on a show where you're acting day in and day out for many, many hours - 15-16 hours sometimes - it hones your endurance, your ability to memorize, your ability to follow your instincts, because you don't have time to fret about your choices afterward.
I'm from Sacramento, and I have no idea what growing up in a city is like.
I'm mixed race - my dad's Caucasian, and my mom's Mexican - so I want to play anything and everything, from American to Latino, the whole spectrum; I'm insatiable.
I don't feel like I've ever subscribed to the stereotypical notion of success. I've always equated success with having integrity, conducting yourself with compassion and honesty, and following your heart despite whether or not you ever make any money at it.
We have this idealized romanticism about how love might solve all of our problems, but then it doesn't.
In the world of 'Power,' no good deed goes unpunished. I don't really look at it as karma in the world of 'Power.' Whenever any character thinks they're on safe ground, they get the world pulled up from under them.
'Power' usually starts principal photography around mid September, and the first table read is always like one big family reunion. The most common comment we hear is how 'well rested' everyone looks... something that can't be said by the end of the season.
In an industry still dominated by men, working with a female director on an episode written by a woman, helmed by a female showrunner, all while doing scenes with your screen sister is like getting to see the big five at the wild animal park. It's awesome.
Now, everyone has their talents, but working with props is not one of mine.
Death marks our careers as actors - it's often what flings us back into unemployment, the unknown, the insecurity that is the true constant in our profession... and it must be celebrated.
There's the laws of society and morality and then there's the laws of the heart.
I personally think 'Power' is much more similar to 'The Sopranos' in that it deals with a character who is leading a double life and wants to become legitimate.
It's a terrifying feeling when you have to do multiple takes of a tricky scene because the focus puller cant keep a sharp image.
'Power' is Andy Bean's first television job, ever. Talk about sticking the landing at first go!
I live in Venice, where I can roll out of bed in my pajamas, so I tend to fly under the radar - and I hope that continues.
You don't actually need confidence or good self-esteem to be successful. You just need to have courage.
I've noticed in the Caribbean culture, the women aren't submissive - they're very fiery.
I had fallen in love once with someone, and I remember it being so distinct, where after the first time they'd hug me, I never wanted another man to ever touch me ever again.
Before 'Power,' I got down to $86 in my bank account. I don't know if I feel successful as much as I feel relieved because for the first time in my life I'm not scared about how I'm going to pay my rent, and I can start to put money away.
Everybody has their own agenda, and that makes 'Power' a dark world. There aren't any really clean characters.
Women could never beat men physically. So we have to be stronger in other ways.
I don't think I ever sit there and think to kick a wound harder.
My secret skill, if it even counts as one, is saying really crass things that sometimes end up as dialogue coming from other character's mouths. My inner salty sailor is alive and well - the only problem is most of the writers on our show are just as inappropriate, so at the end of the day, it's hard to tell who came up with the line.
Professional creativity requires more than inspiration, talent, and discipline - it requires an endurance that few are aware of and even fewer have.
There is a deep camaraderie of insecurity between us actors. You rehash choices you've made among those who are close to you and inevitably bang your head against the wall when you finally figure out the scene... a day after you shot it!
There's a bizarre comfort and safety in doing your last and most intimate scenes with the actor you've worked most closely.
The U.S. is a rainbow of people with an endless scope of stories. My hope is that writing stories about people of color will become instinctual rather than something to be pushed for.
'Power' is a beast to produce. Everyone behind the scenes brings a thoughtfulness and dauntless work ethic day in and day out.
Time seems to slow down after the winter holiday. New York loses all of its winter romance and is just cold.
I love evening tuberoses. My mother used to have tuberoses in her garden, and in the summers in Sacramento, it would get really hot and then cool down in the evenings. You'd walk up the driveway, and it made it feel like 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'
When I was unemployed, I hosted lots of dinner parties. Now I have time to make a pot of soup for the week - if I'm lucky!
I did commercial fishing in Alaska in college. I was the only girl on a fishing boat. It definitely tested so many aspects of my personality.
Puerto Rican culture is very different from Mexican culture. Part of the Mexican psychology is the idea of being an immigrant or being illegal or being confused with that. That doesn't happen with Puerto Ricans, because you're a commonwealth.
One of the wonderful things about 'Power' and why fans often say it makes their heart race is it's set up like a horror film because the audience is, like, four or five steps ahead of the characters.
If you are playing a Hispanic character who has to speak in dialect or in an accent, nail that dialect or accent. When I hear a character that's supposed to be Cuban speaking with a Mexican accent or vice versa, it grates on me and immediately pulls me out of the story.
I don't think that the black market's a new thing. It's always been a part of history, and it's been one of the ways that immigrants and disenfranchised people move into the middle class.
The power of sexual attraction is a real thing.
Women are allowed to exist in this very narrow lane, but as soon as you step out of that lane, people want to stone you.
