I identified with white culture, and I wanted to fit in. I didn't identify with black culture. Like, I didn't like Tyler Perry movies, and I wasn't into hip-hop music. I liked Neil Young.
— Zoe Kravitz
I think both of my parents are unique in the way they don't live their lives as celebrities. They're both artists, first and foremost. My mom lives a very private life. So does my father. You don't really see them in the tabloids or anything like that. I think that's definitely a decision you can make.
I was raised vegan. My mom would always make quinoa with squash and kale, hippie stuff like that. Now I eat meat, but I try to be conscious about where it's coming from.
When I have trouble sleeping, I'll read, watch old episodes of 'Sex and the City,' or dance around my house. Music helps me wind down.
In the last 'Batman' movie, they told me that I couldn't get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren't 'going urban.' It was like, 'What does that have to do with anything?'
My mom and grandmother were actresses, and I knew I was going to do this since I was super young. I would put on shows at my grandparents' house and sing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' in the living room. I was in drama club and chorus, and I knew every word to 'Grease.'
My dad dated a lot of supermodels.
One of my favorite movies of all time is 'Bugsy Malone.'
In high school, I had a really difficult time just loving myself. It's weird; I feel like in the world we live in today, you're not supposed to be like, 'I'm beautiful,' like that's a conceited thing to say.
Hollywood is like a really sad, grown up version of high school where people get labeled as 'cool,' 'not cool,' 'jock,' 'bombshell,' 'quirky'... it's like a caste system. You're either in, or you're out.
I don't wear a lot of perfumey-perfumes because I think a lot of them smell like you're wearing perfume. And I don't want to smell like that.
I'm only at the beginning of my career, but I feel successful in that I haven't sold out in any way, shape or form. I feel good about the choices I've made, and I don't feel like I've let go of any of my values.
That's definitely something I've experienced my whole life - people thinking one thing and then discovering that I'm not, hopefully. So I relate to having to fight that and claim my own identity, when people are trying to throw different ones at me.
I am a huge, huge fan of the plain white tee. A good-fitting, vintage plain white t-shirt, like the 'boyfriend shirt', is the sexiest thing a girl can wear. It goes with anything, fancy or casual.
Sometimes it's less about the character and more about the story for me. I'll play a rock in the background if I think the story is fantastic and I can be a part of it somehow. That's what I look for.
I feel like most creative people are total freaks.
I'd love to do a comedy; that's the one thing I haven't done yet that I really, really want to do.
For me, whenever I would see a lot of 'black films,' I didn't feel represented in it. I didn't feel connected to the characters or the situations or the humor.
I used to make my grandparents pay a dollar to watch me sing 'Grease' songs and 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' in their living room. I was always an entertainer, and I would always do all that stuff, but it slowly evolved into a career, which is great, but it wasn't a plan.
I stream this radio station, Radio Nova, that's based in Paris. They curate a beautiful set that's really all over the place - they'll play blues or some West African music, then A Tribe Called Quest, then funk from Ethiopia, then James Brown, and then the Beatles. It's an amazing mix.
The one thing about art is you can't question it. Everyone is looking at everyone else to find out what's cool. No one knows what's cool.
There are a bunch of images that are thrown in our faces all the time about what we're supposed to look like at 14, 15, 16. It's confusing. I think every woman can identify with that struggle.
It's superficial that people think I'm cool because I wear certain clothes and I have tattoos. The funniest part is, when they get to know me, they're always surprised by how nerdy I am.
My mother's a... beautiful woman, and I think, in some way, I felt intimidated by that sometimes.
I don't really have a beauty routine. I always use coconut oil, and I always wear mascara. That's kind of it! I'm pretty simple.
I'm a big fan of, like, wearing old, vintage slips and stuff as outdoor wear. I got, like, a pair of these little silk bloomers. I think they were even, like, considered underwear in the '40s. I wore them as shorts the other day.
The whole Hollywood thing where people want to put me into this 'quirky-fashionista, daughter of' category makes me mad because it's promoting something that I don't believe in, and it's not who I am.
I do focus my energy on music, but it's just the way that the industry works. I kind of have to take what I can get when it comes to acting and show up so they'll hire me. And music I get to do when I have time. It's not that I focus less, it's just the way it works.
From middle school to the first year of high school, I went to a school in Miami that seemed like a private country club. The whole cheerleader, football player, clique-y thing there was terrifying. Those people were so scary. They're the scariest kinds of people because they are idolized by their peers.
I see the human in everyone and everything. No one is more important than anyone else; I still hang out with my high school friends.
I don't really go out, 'go out' that much anymore. I live in Brooklyn, in Williamsburg, so I just like to wander around. Williamsburg's such a cool little neighborhood community spot.
Acting and making art is just something I love to do, and I love to tell stories that feel important, honest and necessary.
I love shopping in New York just because you walk around and find a little store you've never saw before, and you're like, 'Oh what's that? This is my new favorite place.' I love that about New York.
I'm obsessed with Juice Press - they're everywhere. I spend so much money at that place it's crazy.
I've stayed away from doing 'urban film' because I just don't relate to the characters. I'm not going to take a role because I happen to have the same skin color.
I learned early on - I can go to a shoot, and they will put anything they want to put on me, and I'll look like an idiot because I didn't say I don't like it. It's OK to have an opinion.
I like to wear shoes that are cool but also practical. The same goes for bags. Your bag is a big deal in New York. You can't just carry around a little clutch, because you don't have a car or anywhere to stash things during the day, so you need to carry your whole life with you. That's why I like big, chunky bags with lots of compartments.
I don't want to play everyone's best friend. I don't want to play the role of a girl struggling in the ghetto. It's not that that story isn't important, but I saw patterns, and was like, 'I don't relate to these people.'
When I think of my version of a role model, it's not about being the perfect Samaritan; it's just being out there and being honest and happily imperfect.
You can tell when someone is driven by labels. If something is couture, they think it's important and wear it and sometimes make a terrible fashion mistake. People are shocked that I know so little about designers.
I had a really hard time when I was 16, 17, 18. I started with the eating disorder in high school.
Beauty is when you can appreciate yourself. When you love yourself, that's when you're most beautiful.
I look back on some of my outfits, and I'm like: 'Why did I wear that? Where are my friends and why didn't they tell me not to leave the house?' If they had, I probably would've said, 'You don't know what you're talking about. This looks amazing.'
I try not to wear foundation unless I have a giant pimple, which sometimes I do. For the red carpet, I may add a brighter colored lip and darker eyes. But my standard is blush and mascara.
I'm pretty much a thrift shop gal. Flea markets on Sundays.
I went to a Steiner School, which is very small and nurturing and creative, so I felt like I was in an environment where I could mature. There was less of the clique-y stuff, which can really make high school a living hell for a lot of people, going on, so I was very similar then to who I am now. I'm still a dork.
I think I'm lucky having parents that have been in show business for a while, and they don't care about the shiny stuff so much. They raised me in that way - to stay grounded, not to chase the shiny, pretty things.
I'm not a very organized person.
I'm a total weirdo and have often felt like an outcast and a freak, and I love that. It makes things so much more exciting.
I think it's always very important to be comfortable and just kind of expressive; if you take fashion too seriously, then you lose the fun of it. I think you should always take the risk.
