Danai Gurira slays on the Cover of Ebony Magazine’s June 2018 Issue

Hollywood actress Danai Gurira stuns on the cover of Ebony Magazine‘s June 2018 issue as she talks her goals as an actress, what motivates her, Black Panther and more.

Read excerpts below:

On her goals as an actress: I definitely want to get more African stories on the screen—big and small—[it’s] very important to me. That is definitely something that is on my heart to see through. I have to see it through. That’s a big thing right in front of me that I feel very called to complete and to get into the full process of, which I am now in.

On the response to Black Panther: I think one of the most important things about Panther, one of the most beautiful things about what I witnessed and the response that I received was that there was a lot of beauty in the way it resonated across the world. But I think one of the things that’s been really important to me is that there’s been a reclamation—like a reclaiming that people are doing [things]; of who they are and what they’re doing and what their roots are. It’s a celebration and an understanding that our roots deserve respect. Hopefully, that compels and inspires the great artistic minds that we have in the African diaspora—that it inspires them to know that there are stories they must tell. When we can do that, we are going to have so much more of a beautiful landscape of our own representation. That, to me, is exciting.”

On what motivates her: I think of the little girl in Liberia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe or the Congo who will never have the opportunity I’m standing in. She looks just like me, but she’ll never stand in these shoes. It’s not right. The least I can do is do my best for her. So that, that motivates me. That gets me out of my own way when I remember it’s not about me.

For more on Danai, visit Ebony.